Life Went On
by JRLDN2006
Summary: It had been 7 years since Emily had left Rosewood. She left behind everything and anyone that had held her back and decided to change her outlook on life. She never expected to become who she is now, and she never expected to return to a big surprise. Love triangles all around. Some AU, no A or random deaths. BUT just a few random secrets.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is my FIRST fanfiction... ever. I love reading them and sometimes I get random ideas but never actually do anything about it. So here goes nothing. If you like it, I'll continue. If not, then I'll stick to reading. AU, no A, or random deaths...**

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She walked through the airport to the car rental booth of the small airport, glad that there was no line. After her long flights she just wanted to get to her hotel room and rest. She did not feel like drawing any attention for herself; she never did like it anyway. Instead, she hoped all her transactions went smoothly and quietly. It had been a while since she came back to the town that saw her grow up, and from what she would read and hear from others, this town had not really changed much. She had, however, in many ways.

She smiled politely to the young girl attending while she took off her sunglasses. When the girl looked up and was able to fully see her she was shocked. "Oh my gosh! You're –"

"Shh" She smiled at her again and held a finger to her lips. "I have a reservation. My assistant made it for me and gave me this number." She held out a paper with her reservation number.

"P-p-perfect!" The girl was still quite ecstatic about having a _celebrity_ in her presence. Her nerves radiated off her and she could hardly breathe. Her fingers trembled as she took the paper and had to type in the number a couple of times. "I-I-I've g-got you for a BMW c-c-convertible. You're account i-is set up and w-w-we'll just use the card that was provided over the phone" She stuttered. The attendant unlocked a drawer and took out a set of keys and put them on the counter next to the pen and paper she needed to be signed. "If I could j-just have your autogra- I mean your signature here, please."

"Sure!" She quickly signed it and smiled at the attendant while she handed her the pen. "Thank you. You've been very helpful…" she looked at her name badge, "Lucy."

"W-would you mind if I asked to take a selfie with you? Please? It's against company policy but honestly we never get any famous people around here and my friends would never believe me," the girl continued to ramble causing her to laugh.

"Of course I'd love to! Screw company policy Lucy." She laughed and took Lucy's phone and posed with her taking a few pictures with her.

Lucy's smile was from ear to ear. "Thank you so much! I never thought you'd be so nice. I mean, I know you're from here but people change when they leave such a small town. I guess you are still the sweet girl everyone here talks about."

She returned a wide smile. "I'm pretty sure there's a few other things everyone adds when talking about me. But thank you, I appreciate your compliment." She picked up the keys form the counter and took the handle from her suitcase. "Thanks again Lucy. You have excellent customer service." She started to walk away and she could hear the young girl thanking her and welcoming her "home."

Home. The word caused her a strange feeling. Rosewood hadn't been home in a long time. "7 years," she huffed to herself as she found the car that chirped when she hit the buttons on her keys. She put her suitcase in the back and got into the car. She turned it on and waited for the top to go down before she began to drive. She loved the wind in her hair when she drove. It made her feel free. Almost as free as she felt when she was swimming. It had been a while since she done that as well. "Welcome home, Emily," she said to herself.

Emily left seven years ago right after graduating from high school. She never intended to just run off like she did, no goodbyes or last hang outs. She couldn't spend the entire summer there after what she witnessed. Emily decided to take off, and although her mother attempted to convince her otherwise, she realized her daughter needed to find herself. And she did. She drove to California and got early access to her dorm. Her roommate who was also an athlete on campus, was there early too. Emily began to train with the coaches on the swim team right away and decided she was going to take control of her life and be prepared. That nothing would ever take her by surprise again. She starting reading ahead for the classes she would start in the fall, so she had no excuse to put her swim scholarship on the line. She kept in touch with some of her friends from Rosewood, after giving herself some time to settle she initiated contact with them. She also made new friends and decided she would allow herself to experience new things without being afraid, shy or boring. She decided that nothing or no one was ever going to hold her back ever again. She was determined to start over, despite the fact that her heart was broken.

It was her first semester of her junior year when Emily was scouted to go to the Olympics. All of her hard work had paid off and finally her dream was coming true. She came back with a few gold medals on individual categories and silver in the relay. After that she had so many offers from sponsors that she started to do some commercials and modeling jobs. Many saw her as a natural and fell in love with her charm, that in no time she was getting offers for small roles on TV shows and movies. It was until she landed a leading role in a Sci-fi trilogy, which caused her to really shoot to celebrity status. She stopped swimming after that. With all the work she was doing and still trying to finish school, she found it hard to train. And after coming back from the Olympics she realized that she had achieved her childhood dream, and allowed herself to move on to other things. She liked modeling and acting. She liked to be able to play someone else other than herself. Emily took acting classes after she graduated with her physical therapy degree, with an emphasis in sports. She felt she could always go back to school if acting didn't work out. But for now, she was content.

She only went back to Rosewood for a homecoming parade her town had for her after the Olympics. Her stay there was so brief that she was only able to see Hanna for a couple hours before she had to fly back to New York for interviews. She hardly counted that as a visit. It was more for show than anything.

Emily had seen her parents as they flew out to visit her and she even bought them a condo in California near her house so they could come and go as they pleased and have their own space. Rosewood was still their home though. Spencer, Aria and Hanna had flown out to visit her a few times. Hanna was actually her personal stylist. They had always been best friends and Emily would do anything to help her start up her career. So she lived with Emily for a while until she was able to land a job in New York for Dolce & Gabbana. She enjoys getting to fly to Milan almost every season to gather ideas from headquarters. Spencer was living in D.C. No shocker to anyone there. That girl was determined to be in politics someway, somehow. And when a Hastings puts their mind to do something, they would not stop until it was achieved. Aria toured Los Angeles frequently as she was trying to get known for her photography of different landscapes and architecture around the world. She started her own studio in Rosewood, which she still has and is there when she's not busy traveling.

The only "friend" Emily did not bother to keep in touch with was Alison. She never asked her friends about her or would entertain a conversation when they made attempts to bring her up. She couldn't. After what she saw, she just could not bring herself to want Alison to have any part in her life. After the first 2 months of getting daily calls from Alison that she would never answer, Emily decided to change her number without telling the blonde. She began to feel that she could break any minute and give in and answer, and she would not allow herself to fall into that temptation.

But now she was back. Home. The wind hit her hair as she drove. She saw the time was only 1:52pm. Her mom was probably doing some volunteer work at the station and her dad at the JROTC program. Her parents couldn't just be homebodies. She understood them though because she was just like them. The check in time at the hotel was at 3, so she had some time to spare. She text Aria to let her know she was in town, and decided to stop at the brew and asked her to join her. She parked the car, threw on her sunglasses and put her hair up. She was dressed casually and figured she probably wouldn't stand out much.

She walked into the brew and noticed it had changed since she worked there. It was a little more hipster-chic. "I'll be right with you." She heard a female voice come from who ever was bent down on the other side of the counter. When the girl stood up Emily was paralyzed. Out of all the people who would work at the brew, the last one she expected to run into was standing right in front of her: Alison.

She was just as shocked as Emily. She couldn't move or breathe for that matter. 'Gosh, this is awkward,' she thought. Alison never knew what she would do or say to Emily if she ever got a chance. Seven years ago she probably would have yelled and cussed her out for leaving her like she did and ignoring her all those years. Time has passed and maybe she hasn't truly healed, but she has been able to mature and take things for what they are: nothing. Finally, Alison pulled the strand of hair on her face behind her ear and said something. "Hello. Welcome, what can I get started for you?"

Emily was dumbfounded. 'After all these years _that_ was going to be the first thing Alison said to her? Well, what did I really expect?' Emily thought. I wanted her out of my life, and that's what I got. "Hey, you work here now?"

'So she wants to make small talk after seven years of silence? Good one Emily.' Alison thought as she took a deep breath. "Actually, I'm the owner now. I bought out Ezra a few years ago. But anyways, what can I get you?" Alison didn't know why she offered that much information now. Emily probably didn't care. She hadn't cared to even return a call once before, and now that she was all famous and wanted she probably cared a whole lot less. Alison looked at Emily as the brunette finally took her sunglasses off and decided to look up at the menu. She was gorgeous. Alison always thought Emily was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen, and on TV she looked all kinds of sexy, but here in the flesh was beyond words can describe.

Emily fought hard with herself to look at the menu and not down at Alison. She couldn't believe Ali still could make her feel so, weightless. Ali. Could she even call her that anymore? No. Ali was in the past, and any forms of endearment towards her were with that past. She heard her phone buzz and looked down to see who it was. Aria finally replied. _"The Brew? Emily maybe we can meet somewhere else. There's something you don't know…"_

Emily rolled her eyes dramatically and replied to Aria's text. "You're a little late. I'm already in here and figured out what I didn't know."

Aria: " _oh gosh. I'll be there in 5. On my way don't leave!"_

"Ahem," Alison cleared her throat still waiting for Emily's order. "If you need more time or are undecided I can always give you a sample to try." 'What the hell was that Alison? We don't do samples, especially to people who obviously don't want me in their life.' Alison scolded herself mentally.

"No, that's fine. I'll have an Americano." Emily replied.

"Of course, the usual." Alison answered before her eyes grew wide realizing she had said that out loud and not in her head. 'Idiot! Just move away.' She reprimanded herself again mentally.

Emily smiled slightly, and reached out and took money out from her wallet to pay for her coffee. She placed it on the counter when she heard someone walk in. She turned around hoping to see Aria, but only saw a teen boy rush in and walk towards the back of the counter where Alison was.

"I'm so sorry boss! I got detention for the dumbest thing in school today and couldn't make it out early. Please don't fire me! I promise it won't happen again."

Alison gave the boy a cold stare as she listened to his explanations. Emily was very familiar with that look and for a minute she allowed herself to go down memory lane when Ali would stare people down that they'd eventually bow at her feet. The teen finally looked over to his side and saw Emily.

"Oh my gosh! You're Emily Fields! Thee Emily Fields! Boss do you know who this is?" He yelled. Alison shot him another look and then looked apologetically to Emily.

"Anthony, first you're late and then you scare our customers. This is you're last warning, next time don't bother coming back. Now, go get your apron in the back and come right back. I can't cover your entire shift here." Anthony blinked his shocked look away only for it to be replaced by a scared one. He scurried to the back as ordered. "I'm sorry Emily. He's just a stupid teenager and he's star struck."

Emily laughed at the whole interaction that just occurred. "It's fine, don't worry. I'm just going to sit over there. Thanks."

Alison watched her walk away and go to sit on a table. She heard her laugh. Alison never realized she missed that sound so much. She almost didn't recognize it. She felt her anger rise suddenly. How come she had to have missed it for so long? How can Emily just walk in here and act like they are complete strangers? Has the fame really gone to her head? Could it have changed her that much that she can act like she didn't just leave her in that stupid town with no good bye or explanation to why she was leaving so suddenly? Alison was about to march herself over there and demand answers from Emily when she saw Aria walk in. Aria looked flustered and was out of breath. She figured Aria must have run over here from her shop when Emily told her she was here. Maybe that is who Emily was texting a couple minutes ago. Another question came to Alison's head: Why did Emily keep in touch with the others and not with her?

"Hey Ali!" Aria said once she caught her breath. "Umm, how's it going?"

"Hey Ar, Emily is sitting over there. I guess she's waiting for you." Alison replied without really looking at her. "You want your usual? I'll have Anthony bring it over to you guys in a second."

"Yea, thanks Ali." Aria responded. "Ali? Did you two, you know talk?"

Alison rolled her eyes and finally brought her head up to look at Aria. "I took her order and she told me she would be sitting over there. There's nothing to talk about. I guess fame really does get some and they forget about the little people." Alison put the rag she was squeezing in her hand down. "It's okay Aria. I'm sorry. I'll talk to you later. I have to go. I'm late for a linner date." She gave Aria a half smile and whispered to her. "She's still gorgeous, the bitch has got that."

Aria laughed and put her hand on Alison's arm affectionately. "I'll call you later. Maybe we can double this weekend? Ezra is going to be home, he's taking a break from his book tour."

"That would be fun. If you're free, I'm pretty sure we'll be up for it. But please – no paparazzi." Alison joked and Aria rolled her eyes playfully. Alison looked at Emily for a few seconds. 'Gosh she's beautiful.'

Aria watched Alison head towards the back and thought about the plan she had just made. Hopefully, Emily would be busy this weekend. She didn't want to be the one to have to tell her about Alison's significant other. 'Oh my this is totally going to be awkward!' Aria thought. She took a deep breath and walked over to the table Emily was sitting at…

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 **A/N: Ok so should I continue?**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow, I didn't think I'd get responses quickly. Thanks! Reviews are actually very encouraging. Ok so I'm new to this. I know as a reader I can be impatient, but it doesn't matter cause I still wait for other authors to post because I'm so loyal, or addicted, to their stories. I'm going to try and update this one as frequent as possible. Today's is kinda short, I had a rough one so my mood is kinda eff-ed all up...**

 **Oh yea, for those of you asking about Maya - wait for it. She's coming soon.**

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"Well, that was unexpected." Emily mentioned to Aria, as she got up to greet her friend with a big hug and a grin, in a rather sarcastic tone.

"Well, it really wasn't like you ever wanted to hear any updates on the life of Alison DiLaurentis," Aria replied as she sat at the table. She smiled up at Emily. "It's good to see you, and here, in Rosewood! I texted Hanna and Spencer and told them you where in town as I walked over here. They both asked how long you'd be in town for, maybe they can come down in a couple days and we can have a little reunion!"

Emily always loved how enthusiastic Aria got about certain things that most people would find corny. "That would be amazing! As for how long, I'm not sure. I don't have anything to get back to for a couple of weeks. I didn't even go home from finishing up this last film from Ireland. I came straight here. My parents aren't really expecting me either. I thought I'd be spontaneous for once." Emily replied with a huge grin on her face.

"For once?" Aria raised an eyebrow at her. "You've disappeared from places or taken off randomly without ever letting anyone know. Let's not forget the week after high school–"

"No, you're right. I've done this before. But let's not bring that up right now," Emily interjected. She never told her friends why she left. She just told them it was something she needed to do. They caught on that it must have had something to do with Alison since Emily stopped talking to and about her after she left. After all these years, she started to feel it could have been a somewhat childish move, but what's done had been done and she couldn't take it back. After all, she discovered a side to herself that she liked and experienced a life she never even dreamed of.

"So how is the life of my favorite hybrid human Kahlia? I'm still so anxious to see how it all ends. How do you end a movie with the main character falling into a pit that leads into the burning world of her enemies? Ugh, it still frustrates me!" Aria started to get really excited as she spoke but calmed herself down when noticed Anthony come by with their coffees.

"I know what you mean Ms. Aria! Kahlia is in love with the beast, who, basically betrayed her and led her to her death! Please! Tell me she doesn't die!" He looked at Emily with pleading eyes as he talked. She couldn't help but laugh.

"Ah, don't ask me too much because I'm not at liberty to say! All I can tell you is that you'll be very surprised by how everything turns out. It's a whole rollercoaster of emotions, but maybe it doesn't always have to end in some sappy love story…" Emily replied. They both looked at her in silence not understanding why she wouldn't just give them the answers they needed because they didn't know how to wait months and months to only be stuck with more questions since the second film had yet to be premiered.

"No fair." Aria broke the silence. "I thought we were friends? Like besties since forever ago!"

"We are silly! But even besties have to wait until premieres to find certain things out." Emily smiled and winked at Aria and she smiled back in return.

"Ms. Fields? Or can I call you Miss Emily?" Anthony asked turning slightly timid.

"Emily is fine. Don't make me feel all old here now!" Emily laughed.

"Oh, I'm sorry Miss Emily, I mean Emily! But-" he lowered his voice as he looked around to see if Alison was anywhere in sight. "But would it be okay to take a picture with you? "

Emily smiled at him. She thought he was a cute kid and found it hard to deny him anything. "Sure, Anthony." He quickly whipped out his phone and posed next to Emily as he snapped a couple of selfies making different faces. He even asked Aria to join them in their mini photo shoot.

"Oh my gosh my boyfriend is never going to believe me that this actually happened today! He's going to be so super jealous! You're the best! If I didn't idolize you before, since you were officially the girl who rocked the boat in still water, Rosewood, then I definitely idolize you now!" Anthony couldn't stop smiling as he looked through his photos.

Aria and Emily laughed with him. Emily decided to filter some of his photos and even asked to take one with him on her phone.

Alison was standing close by the door that led through to the back room the whole while. Careful enough to be able to peek a quick glance every now and then without getting caught. She couldn't get enough of hearing Emily's laugh. She couldn't believe that even after seven years of only seeing her on TV screens and magazines or hearing about her on the news or celebrity gossips shows, she still _missed_ her. What happened? She remembered the last conversation they had alone together, right before graduation ceremony, out by the kissing rock.

 _"I can't believe this day finally is here!" Emily exclaimed. Alison always loved to see Emily smile wide and couldn't help be feel just as excited as her because her excitement for things was just so contagious. She loved how every feature of her face would light up and express her every feeling. "High school is finally over! We're graduating!"_

 _"I know right!" She grabbed Emily's hand and intertwined her fingers with her. "But this is our new beginning, Em. Yours and mine. We go beyond high school; we'll go on forever. There's no one I want more in this world to be with, than you. You're my mermaid." She pulled their hands up to her lips and kissed Emily's hand, then leaned in and gently kissed Emily's lips._

 _It was the sweetest feeling in the world. After all the bullshit drama Alison herself had made them go through, she still was able to be get the love of her life to forgive her and actually give her a chance. Alison knew she didn't deserve her, but Emily knew she loved Ali and did not want to deny herself the chance to be happy and make her happy._

 _"I love you Ali. I always have, and always will." Emily smiled and kissed her again. "This is going to be the best summer and then we'll drive up to California together. I can't wait! College, swimming, and you- the next chapter of my life summed up!" Alison giggled at Emily's words. She couldn't help but feel so pathetically happy in this moment. Emily ran her free hand through Alison's gold locks and gazed into her blue eyes. "Beautiful, and finally, finally mine." She pecked the tip of her nose._

 _"Always just yours, and no one else's." Alison looked straight into Emily's eyes as she said this. She cupped Emily's face gently and kissed her deeply and slowly. She wanted to make sure Emily would have no doubt in her mind that she was the only person Alison ever wanted to be with. After what seemed like the longest minutes of their lives, Ali pulled her lips away but kept her face close to Emily's, both their eyes were still closed. "We have to go my love, or we'll be late to our own graduation." She smiled into the Emily's lips briefly._

 _"Forget graduation! I'd rather find my right of passage right here in your lips and tangled in your body! Even the 'kissing rock' can graduate to the next level of its existence." Emily said while wiggling her eyebrows. They both giggled._

 _"Wow, hanging around with Aria has turned you into a cheese ball!" Alison laughed while Emily jokingly pouted at her statement. "But as much as I would rather redefine the 'kissing rock,' I'm pretty sure your parents in particular wouldn't like the idea of their only precious daughter missing her own graduation. And I need to still make a good impression on them because I plan to be around for a very long while." Alison said as she pulled Emily down the pathway to where they parked her car._

 _"They'll love you Ali. And of course you'll be around for more than a long while." She took out the keys of Alison's car from her pocket and unlocked the doors. Before opening the door for Ali she pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her temple. She whispered in her ear, "I plan on being around forever, don't forget that."_

'Well, _forever_ definitely was short-lived.' Alison thought in her head. She suddenly became upset for daring to replay that memory in head. Hadn't she decided to forget that day already? She just couldn't. Especially not now when Emily was finally so near again. "I wish I could just hate her!" She said under her breath and gritted her teeth. What Alison really wanted to do was go back out there and yell at Anthony and end their little fun. Put her foot down so Emily could see that she still had it in her to be tough and someone who should be feared. She was after all the owner of this fine establishment now. But what would she win with that? No, it would just be childish and stupid and even though she was realizing that she still felt pained by such a distant memory, life went on and she moved on.

Alison looked down at her watch, "Fuck! Now I'm really going to be late!" She ran into her office and changed her button-up work blouse for a blue, dressy-casual, one that left one shoulder bare. She took her accessories out of her purse and checked her mirror while she touched up her makeup. She pulled her off her hair tie and let her blonde locks fall over her shoulders. She took the black heels from under her desk table and changed the flats she had on. Before she walked out, she sprayed her favorite perfume on her wrists and lower neck: something subtle just to cover up the coffee stench. She thought about exiting through the back door to avoid Emily, but allowed temptation to take over and opted to go through the front. She wanted to show herself off and give Emily a glimpse of exactly what she had been missing these past 7 year. But as she made her way out to the front she saw that the table Aria and Emily were at was empty. They were gone.

Anthony was busy helping other customers so she just waved at him on her way out. As she walked around the building to her car, she saw them pass her by as they drove down the street in the convertible. Who was she kidding? Emily probably wouldn't even have bothered to look at her, since from what she's heard from the gossip shows, Emily seems to be always dating these gorgeous models and actresses. Emily's standards were probably too high now, and not even the once "Queen Bee of Rosewood" could live up to them. Alison took out her keys and got into car to head to her next destination.

Little did Alison know, that Emily, in fact had noticed her as she and Aria passed her by. She would notice those golden tresses anywhere. She adjusted her rear-view mirror to be able to at least look at her for a while longer before having to turn the street. Aria didn't notice, after all, she really could see where Emily's eyes had wandered under her dark shades. 'Why is she having this affect on me?' Emily wondered to herself. She knows Alison is very well someone in her past, and she has been able to love again after, but her body still seems to react in a certain way that she can't seem to understand. 'Well, she's still fine as hell, so who can blame me for feeling attracted to her physically.' She decided that her reasoning was enough for now and put any other thoughts to rest. There was nothing there anymore. She focused on singing along to the songs on the radio and chatting it up with Aria as they drove to the town's new 5-star luxury hotel, The Radely.

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 **Like I said: Sorry it's short, but it's something right? :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry I've been off the past couple of days... So this is like a whatever chapter. I was getting tired at the end so I hope it makes sense... Sorry I don't think it's that long

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Emily checked into the hotel room and went up to the penthouse suite to settle in with Aria. They chatted a while longer while there and even face-timed with Spencer and Hanna who promised to come by the following week for a few days if work allowed it. After lounging for a while, Emily took Aria back to her studio and went to visit her parents. They were surprised to see her in Rosewood and her mother attempted to convince her to stay in her old room rather than the hotel. Emily appreciated that her mom still wanted to baby her after all this time apart, but convinced her staying at the hotel was a million times better because she did not want any lingering paparazzi who found out she was in town, to bother them at their home. She thought the hotel would have better security and would take care of that more since she was their guest. Her mom agreed only because Emily promised to have lunch with them the following day and to go over for breakfast on the weekend.

Emily arrived back to The Radley and the valet attendant opened her car door allowing her to step out. She shuffled through her purse looking for the room key, and as she was about to pass the young man holding the door to the hotel building she heard a very familiar voice with an all too familiar phrase, "She makes a beautiful zombie doesn't she?"

The last time Emily heard those specific words being said by that specific voice, she ended up hibernating for an entire weekend and skipped out on a study group and swimming practice. Luckily for her, the owner of that voice ended up helping her study for her philosophy test and practice that weekend was optional to improve skill and she had no consequence for missing. It was end of January, of her second semester as a sophomore in college, probably a little too early to start getting distracted. But how could she even deny anything to the girl who rocked her world at 16 and helped her overcome her fear of accepting herself for who she really was?

 _"She makes a beautiful zombie doesn't she?" Emily heard someone say to her while she waited for her coffee order to be called out. People around her looked to the person who said that with puzzled faces and slowly scooted themselves away. Emily knew that line all too well; she heard it on her first official date with her first girlfriend. She turned around to face her: Maya. It had been almost 3 years since they last saw each other. "At least I still think so." Maya winked. Emily felt herself blushing but couldn't prevent the smile forming on her face. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the most beautiful Emily Fields. Do I get a hug?"_

 _"Maya!" Emily couldn't help but lung into Maya's open arms. "I can't believe it's you! What are you doing around here?"_

 _"What am I doing? I should be asking you that question. I moved back out here the summer before 11_ _th_ _grade remember? What are you doing in California?" Maya asked her._

 _"I got a swimming scholarship out here so I decided to get as far away from Rosewood as possible and came to USC for college. Are you busy right now? Maybe we can go somewhere and have some dinner?" Emily was overjoyed that life had allowed her to run into someone so pleasant from her past, she didn't want the moment to end._

 _Maya was just as happy to run into Emily, you could tell by how they both gazed at each other and did not even allowed their eye contact to break. "Well, I was just going to have a lazy Friday night to myself. My studio is a couple blocks away… Do you want to come over? I'll make you something or we can order take-out. Totally up to you!"_

 _"Wait, thee Maya St. Germain cooks? Hmm, I think I have to see that for myself!" Emily joked with a flirty voice and smile._

 _Maya leaned in close to Emily and whispered in her ear, "You'd be surprised at the things I can do now." When she retreated she smiled and bit her bottom lip. Emily gulped. Just then the barista called out Emily's order and she no choice but to break from her trance with Maya to get her coffee. Once she had the cup in her hand she turned again to face Maya, who held out her hand to her. "You ready to go?" Maya asked. Emily took her hand and nodded._

 _Maya lived by herself in a studio apartment in West Hollywood. She attended UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Since she lived in California and was familiar with it's surroundings, she opted to live off campus on her own. She explained to Emily that it helped her stay creative, and in touch with herself, rather than follow the waves imposed by being surrounded by the same people all the time. They caught up for a good long while talking about everyone and everything. Emily left out details, but she told Maya that she was seeing someone her senior year of high school, but the girl broke her heart and therefore, she felt leaving Rosewood was the best decision she made. Maya in return, told Emily she had just gotten out of a yearlong relationship right before Christmas. Apparently, her ex-girlfriend, who was a couple years older than Maya, wasn't very supportive of Maya's musical career, and deemed them to have no future if Maya continued pursuing that._

 _They lay on Maya's bed and lounged around while drinking wine that Maya had from when her ex lived with her. "It's funny how some things don't work out, isn't it? I always thought that after you left, I would probably never find anyone again. I was heartbroken of course, but it was different." Emily said._

 _"It was different because you and I didn't end in bad terms Emily. We were too young to have a long distance relationship. In my opinion, we were wise beyond our years when we decided to just break up and leave it to fate. Cause from my view of it now," Maya leaned into Emily until her face was very close to Emily and her eyes were to the same level as hers, "It's funny how some things suddenly do."_

 _Emily was the one to close the gap between them. She kissed Maya softly on her lips first. The two girls allowed their lips to become reacquainted with the others. Emily felt a current go through her body, perhaps it wasn't the same spark she felt when she kissed Alison, but for sure this feeling was very special to her in a very different way. Emily always knew she would have love for Maya. She was her first girlfriend, after all. And Maya was right they did not end on bad terms. Emily felt that the love she was feeling, was the same love she put on pause all those years back. Only now it felt a little more mature and worth the wait._

 _Their kisses became impatient and Maya pushed Emily to her back on the bed and crawled over her. Maya allowed her hands to feel alongside Emily's body from her thighs, to her hips to her breasts. Emily gasped at the touch, which allowed Maya to deepen the kiss. Emily grabbed onto Maya and pulled her closer to her. She slowly crept her hands under Maya's shirt and felt the delicate skin on her fingertips. Soon, kisses and touches weren't enough and they ended up naked and tired under the covers of Maya's bed. The whole weekend consisted of talking and making love and as they continuously called it "making up for lost time."_

Emily felt happy again. She only left that Sunday night because she needed to prepare for her busy school week. The girls continued their relationship after that weekend, however. They were together up until Emily qualified for the Olympic team. Around that same time, Maya had just joined an R&B fusion jazz band that was getting ready to tour in different states. Both girls were achieving their dreams and realized that time again was not on their side. Instead of having a messy breakup, they decided to let each other go on a good note, and see if fate would bring them back together again. Emily felt crushed once again, but she found comfort in perhaps one day they could be. She also reminded herself that she had vowed that nothing was going to hold her back anymore, and she would not be afraid of having to be alone again. She's made it this far and really had no regrets. She never did see Maya again though. That is until now.

"Maya?" Emily turned to face her with a surprised look and a big smile.

"The one and only!" Maya chuckled and returned the smile. "Well, what are the odds that I'd run into you here out of all places?" She allowed herself to eye Emily from head to toe, causing Emily to slightly blush. "And I see that Hollywood has been treating you oh so well."

"Stop! You're making me blush!" She pulled Maya in for a hug. "What are you doing in Rosewood out of all places?"

"I'm playing at a Music festival at Rosewood High School. I'm actually living in Philly now, I work at a club, still doing the music thing waiting on my big break!" Maya giggled as she said that.

"Are you free now? Come up to my suite and maybe we can catch up a little? Please?" Emily gave her a cheese smile and put her hands together as if pleading with her. Maya couldn't help but laugh at Emily's silly gesture.

"I'm so glad Hollywood hasn't changed you all that much and you still have a silly side to you." Maya looked at her clock. "I guess I have about an hour before I have to perform at the festival tonight."

"Great! Let's go then." They went into the elevator in a somewhat awkward silence until they reached the top floor, to Emily's suite. Emily opened the door and allowed Maya to go in. "After you."

Maya looked around the suite and found herself to be in awe. "Wow! So these are the lifestyles of the rich and famous. I must say that for a small town hotel, this place is actually very nice. The room I'm staying in tonight is of course a lot smaller, but very comfortable and luxurious."

"Can you believe that this was a mental institute before? I hardly recognized the place and I grew up here." They both laughed. "It's great to run into you. How have you been?"

"I've been good actually." Maya replied. "I'm still working on my music, and every now and then get invited to sing or play with other bands. I'm actually working on getting a gig out in New York twice a month. But enough about me – you're the one with the exciting life! How was filming in Ireland? Tell me the truth, is Kahlia dead? Girl, you definitely look good on a big screen let me tell you! Except, when Kahlia fell it looked all too real and I literally cried."

Emily couldn't help but laugh. "You know, I've dodged that question all day! First Aria, then the kid at the coffee shop and now you! But my answer is the same to all of you: you're going to have to wait for the premiere." Maya pouts as she hears Emily's words and Emily can't help but laugh. She feels strange being around Maya, but a good strange. "Being in Ireland was amazing though. The landscapes are beautiful. It was a lot of working and hardly any exploring. After we wrapped, I really didn't feel like doing anything other than getting on a plane and coming back to the states."

Maya looked at Emily carefully and squinted her eyes a little. "Em, why'd you come to Rosewood though? Why didn't you go home to Los Angeles? I've been watching those gossip shows you know…" She gave Emily a side smirk and raised her eyebrow, "Who is she?"

Emily rolled her eyes playfully, "you really believe everything you hear on those shows My?"

"Well, no. I mean some things have been true though. You have been dating. And although I feel slightly betrayed that you didn't stay single and wait for me or become a nun these past 4 years without me," Maya put her palm to her forehead and faked hurt in her face before breaking out in laughter, "I'm glad you've been keeping yourself busy. I just know you. From what I remember, you never really cared to come back here. Are you avoiding anyone back home?"

"Wow, am I that obvious? I need to work on my acting skills." Emily teased back. "I'm not running, Maya. I still don't think I ran away seven years ago, I just needed to find myself and honestly, I think that's the best decision I've made ever! But if you must know, I am seeing someone. It's just that it's still fairly new and the fact that we're both in the same business makes it a little complicated. I'm not completely sure how much she's into it either. So I have to wait it out. How about-" Emily's question was cut off by the ringer on Maya's phone.

"I'm sorry Em, I have to take this." Maya takes a step back closer to the door and gives her back to Emily. Emily notices that Maya's voice gets soft when she answers the phone, and she can almost remember when Maya would talk to her in that tone over the phone. "Hey Lo… Yeah I'm at the hotel. You still want me to come pick you up tonight?... Ok no problem, I'll see you there… I can't wait to see you either. Bye."

"Who's Lo, huu? So you mean to tell me that you having been single these past 4 years waiting for me to come back to you?" Emily couldn't help but laugh as she said this, which caused Maya to laugh in return. "What kind of a name is Lo anyway?" Maya grabbed a pillow from one of the couches and playfully threw it at Emily, who dodged it causing another burst of giggles.

"Jerk!" Maya answered once she calmed her laughter. "She's a friend. Yes, I'm seeing her, but that's all it is right now. I don't know where it's going at this point." They stayed in silence for a while. Casually looking at each other and then looking away. "Well," Maya finally broke the silence, "If you're free tonight, you can come down to the music festival. You might like walking down memory lane visiting your old high school. I'm sure all the locals would love to run into you."

"You know, as tempting as it sounds, it's been a long enough day. I might just call it a night. Maybe I can go down to Philly sometime next week and catch a show?"

"Sure! That would be great. I'm sure some of my band mates might be totally excited to play for a big movie star!" Maya teased. "But I'd love it for you to come by."

"It's always good running into you My. I've missed you." Emily admitted. She wasn't sure if it was just the nostalgia talking, but Emily couldn't help but have this content feeling. Maya did look good too though. 'What's up with running into my exes today? And why did both of them look so damn good?' Emily thought.

After Maya left, Emily contemplated her day. It was only about 8pm, but she felt super tired. She closed her eyes and thought about Alison. How good she looked today when she drove by her on the street. 'Why did she buy The Brew anyways? I can't believe after all these years, how stupid and awkward our interaction was. And then there's Maya.' She smiled as she thought about her conversation with Maya.

She noticed a trend: When she was a freshman in high school, Alison made her feel rejected and alienated because of the feelings she had for her. Alison strung her along for a while, liking the attention, but then she eventually told her how disgusting it would be to "date a girl," and stepped all over Emily's poor heart. Alison moved away for a year to live with her sick grandma, and Maya came to rosewood sophomore year to change Emily's life for the better. That is, until she left. Mid junior year, Alison came back and found how much Emily had changed in her absence. She wasn't that shy girl anymore who was afraid and hiding. Alison always had a thing for Emily, which scared her, causing her to ultimately push Emily away. However, when she was able to stop fighting it, the love between her and Emily was strong and felt so real. It was completely different kind of love than with Maya. But of course, that was wrecked as well because as it real as it felt to Emily, she thought it was all a lie from Alison's part. And when she found Maya in California, she changed her life again. Then today happened, after an awkward encounter with Alison, there was nice one with Maya. … Why was she even trying to compare them though? "Yea today was definitely different." Emily said to herself. She took a long bath and then got ready for bed. She checked her phone and was surprised to not have gotten a single message. "Oh well." She placed it on the side table and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Alison was putting the finishing touches of her make up on. Her phone rang, "Hey Paige… Yea, I'm actually almost getting ready to leave... Ok. I'll text you when I'm outside your house. See you soon." She hung up her phone and opened a new text message: 'Hey, I'll be on my way soon. Picking up Paige and then heading out. We'll find you when we get there." She put her phone down, and finished up putting mascara.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So I've noticed one reason about why I probably have never actually decided to write fanfic... I'm really indecisive... I keep kinda changing my mind about how I want things to go, so I erase and start all over. I know how I want it to go, just trying to elaborate the steps to getting there.**

 **Sorry if this is short. But I'll try to keep posting at least every other day. Real life is kinda hectic right now.**

 **Thanks for the reviews! :) [Sorry for typos/errors ... & no I don't own PLL or any characters]**

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The next morning, Emily woke up and decided she really didn't want to step out of her hotel room. She called her mom and asked her to come to the Radley to have lunch. Her mom changed her plans and decided to come by for dinner, probably hoping to get her daughter out of the hotel. Emily agreed and was actually glad that she could just lay around in her pajamas all day. It sounded depressing, Emily knew, but this was something so unusual for her to experience these days. She was always on the go in LA: photo shoots, interviews, commercial shoots, premieres, random meetings with sponsors, meetings with directors, meetings for all other potential projects. Her extra curricular activities also made her feel on the go, too. She loved her life, she did, but when she actually stopped to reflect on it, being that it was all something so unexpected, she really just wanted to hide away sometimes and go back to who she was before all this; just Emily Fields, high school girl with big swim dreams; Emily Fields, the quiet one who card deeply and loved with every fiber of her being. "But that Emily Fields was also very naïve and weak." Emily reminded herself.

She didn't let her mind often go to these thoughts, but maybe because she saw her yesterday, they all came to surface. What if Alison never broke her heart? What if she never witnessed what she did, and she ended up in California with Alison? "Eventually, her true colors would have come out maybe, and things would be exactly what they are now between us," she said out loud to no one in particular. She wasn't convinced that she was happy with that, however.

Then there was Maya. She loved how she felt around Maya. She knew that they were still friends, but something about her always made her feel that she could just be completely natural and she would love her no matter what. She wonders how far along in their relationship they could have been if life hadn't happened the way it did. "Maybe we'd still be together, maybe life would have tore us apart eventually." She wondered if who ever Maya was seeing made her happy. If Maya deserved anything in life, it was to be happy.

She stretched out in her bed and stared at the ceiling. Her phone rang and she almost didn't want to look to see who it was. "It might be important," she attempted to convince herself. Before it was sent to voicemail, Emily rolled over and reached for her phone on the nightstand next to the bed. "Hello?... Hey you. How are you?" She couldn't help but smile as she heard the voice on the other side. "That's good… Yes, I came to Rosewood… I'm not sure how long I am going to be here. I don't even know exactly why I thought coming here would be a good idea in the first place. I just didn't have it in me to go back to LA just yet. … I know James. I'll let you know when I decide to head back there. Take care, and thanks for watching my baby Lucky!... Bye."

Emily decided she was thinking too much. She got up and turned on the TV and started flicking through the channels. "News, news, court, infomercial, court, Spanish, news, boring movie, my movie… ah, TMZ." She hated watching anything she was in more than once. It made her feel a little self-centered and even though people made her out to be a big deal now, she just didn't feel it. The news often depressed her, and normally she wouldn't watch the celebrity gossip shows, but every so often she was curious to see what was the rumor around the street was.

 _"Have you heard who Misha was seen with the other day? Well, we saw her strolling a few months ago with Emily Fields."_

 _"Wait – isn't Emily a lesbian?"_

"Well, I see they aren't caught up on their news." Emily stated as she continued to watch.

 _"Well yea, but is Misha also swinging that way?"_

 _"What's up with all these hot models and celebrities being lesbians suddenly? Mankind is doomed if we're left with only ugly girls to breed with"_

 _"Oh!"_

Click. "This is why I don't watch television!" Emily huffed as she threw the remote control to the opposite side of the couch she was sitting on. "Maybe staying in isn't the best idea." She was afraid to check her emails or be on any social media for that matter. She wished she could turn off her phone but even she knew that she should have it on for emergency purposes. She was so glad her agent was ok with her going off radar for a while… a "short while" as Renee put it. "Enough, I have to get out of here." She stood up figured how to turn on the coffee pot and went to take a shower. She decided to tour her old town and get reacquainted with it. It would be a shame to not drive that little car around while she had it.

On the other side of town, Alison was at Aria's studio finishing up one of the jobs they were working on together.

"So the bride wants you to take pictures of her as she gets ready, and wants to know if you can have someone take pictures of the groom." Alison asked as she scribbled things down on a sheet of paper.

Aria was cleaning out lenses and sorting out her cameras. "Sure, I can probably as Toby if he wants a side job for that Friday. Have you seen his random work? He's actually pretty good." Aria replied. "I'm glad he likes being a detective more cause if not, he'd surely give me a run for my money."

"Hopefully, he's available, and he agrees to do it. He's been moody these days when he walks into the brew. You might want to think of a plan b." Alison smirked a little. "When is Spencer paying him a visit already? That boy looks like he could use a little something-something."

"Ali!" Aria couldn't help but laugh.

"What? It's true. He gets these little attitudes when she's away for so long and he hasn't gotten any. We all know nothing really ever happens in this town, so his job really isn't that stressful. I mean, unless he's figured out who keeps erasing and writing over my specials chalkboard outside the brew."

"Ali, we all know that's a common prank those junior high kids do because you always get so worked up about it. But do you have any idea how hard long-distance relationships are? Ugh, I just found out Ezra's editor added another date to his tour so instead of coming home tomorrow, he's flying over to New Jersey. He won't be in until next Friday, and that's when we have this wedding so I'll be super busy and will hardly get to see him." Aria zipped up the bag she was putting the camera into with a lot of frustration as she spoke. Alison put down the pen she was writing with and reached to put her hand over Aria's to offer some comfort.

"It looks like you could use a little something-something too," Ali giggled and was rewarded with a major eye-roll from Aria along with a grunt of frustration. "But you're right, I have no idea how hard long distance relationships could be. Hell, I don't really know how hard up-close relationships could be."

"How are things with?" Aria motioned raised her eyebrows and Alison knew exactly who Aria was referring to.

"They're good. I don't want to jinx it. We're just seeing each other and for the first time in a while I feel like I'm actually trying to connect with someone."

"Ali, are you going to tell Emily about-"

"Emily? Why would I have to tell her anything? She came into the brew yesterday and acted like we were total strangers. Like she was just another customer ordering her drink. It's been seven years Aria, seven! Besides, I doubt she would care anyways. Isn't she seeing that one actress or model or whatever?" Aria shrugged her shoulders not knowing if Alison was actually expecting an answer from her or not. "Whatever. Emily hasn't been one to reach out to me anyhow. I doubt she'd care to sit and have a conversation about how I'm dating her ex." Alison let out a heavy sigh. "It's been seven years and sometimes I'm still wondering what the fuck I actually did to make her hate me so much. I'm pretty sure she's moved on and obviously, the rest of us do too."

"But Ali, have you even told-"

"No! I haven't ok! I'm scared to. It's not like she's my girlfriend or anything. If things start to look more and more like they're going that way, then I'll tell her."

"Well," Aria walked over to the shelf to put away her lenses and camera. She took out her phone and checked her messages before continuing. "You might want to think about it a little more. Spencer and Hanna both just text me to let me know that they're coming down tomorrow to visit us and see Emily. We wouldn't want them spilling the beans now would we?"

"What? They're coming?" Alison felt some excitement to see her friends, well more Spencer than Hanna. Hanna always was more loyal to Emily and although they would talk, she was sure that if Emily was in town, she would probably not make an effort to visit her. "Wait, why am I even getting worked up about this? Last time I checked, I was non-mentionable-subject topic to Emily. And so what if Emily finds out? If Hanna really wanted, she would have told Emily by now. So I can assure you, that she wouldn't even care and that's why none of you guys have bothered to mention it to her. So let's drop it!"

Aria put her hands up as a sign of surrender. "Ok-okay, I'm sorry. Maybe you're right and she really wouldn't really care. I just think she might find it awkward. Anyway, do you want to grab lunch?"

"I can't. I have to meet with this bridezilla before Friday. She wants to go over everything for the billionth time. I'll keep you updated with whatever she might want to add to her pictures. I just hope she doesn't change the location she wants the wedding pictures to be!"

"Oh gosh I hope she doesn't either! I already have all the props for it too! Why did you go into wedding planning again?"

"It's event planner Aria." Alison playfully rolled her eyes. "And because I have always been so good at throwing parties, that's why!" She smiled and leaned in to give her shorter friend a hug. "Love you. We'll talk later."

Aria watched as Alison left. An idea came to her mind, but she needed Spencer and Hanna to be on board with her. She thought seven years of distance was enough; maybe these two needed a little push to just clear the air between them. She didn't expect them to get back together. After all, their lives were so much different now. She just wanted to be able to hangout with her best friends all together again, and maybe even every now and then. Hopefully, whatever wound Emily had towards Alison had healed, and she could see that perhaps there still was room for some friendship.

As Emily drove down the street, she wondered if it would be too weird to stop by at the brew. It was more out of habit than of want. As she slowed down and searched for a parking space up close, she saw Maya coming out of the coffee shop. "Hey there hot stuff, need a lift?" Emily asked playfully.

"Why? If it isn't the Emily Fields picking up on a little old fan!" Maya teased. She checked her watch. "I was actually supposed to meet up with someone soon, but I guess they might have to postpone it."

"Ooooh, is that someone Lo?" Emily questioned and lowered her sunglasses to the edge of her nose, causing Maya to laugh.

"Silly! But if you must know… it could be." Maya opened the door to the convertible and sat down. "I don't think I would ever be able to resist a hot chick in a nice car though." Emily nudged her shoulder as they both giggled. "Where were you off to anyway? Meeting any director for a movie project about your humble little hometown?"

"Actually," Emily started, "I thought I wanted to stay in, but realized I am no fun on my own. So I took a drive. I'm free until around dinnertime. I promised my mom I'd meet her and my dad for dinner tonight. You want to join?"

"Awe, as much as I would love to hang out with your parents again like the good ole days," Maya replied with slight sarcasm, "I can't. Its Friday night girl! I have to get back to Philly for tonight's show. But I do have a couple hours to kill now."

"So, what do you want to do?" Emily asked with a little flirtation in her tone.

"Well, if I'm being honest," She turned her body to face and gently put her hand on Emily's thigh and rubbed it down to her knee. Emily gulped a little and almost forgot to breathe. Was Maya actually making a move on her? "But I would just love…" Maya looked at her, seductively. Yes, she still had the power to make Emily nervous and tingle in all the right (or wrong) places. "… to drive this car!" She couldn't help but laugh at how bad she had been able to get Emily to blush.

"Oh you bitch!" Emily said playfully as she laughed with her. "You had me there!"

"I know I'm sorry." Maya laughed. "Please? Pretty please, with a cherry on top?" Maya pleaded and gave Emily her biggest cheese smile showing all her teeth.

"Well," Emily stopped laughing and lowered her voice to a breathy whisper, "depends on the cherry." She winked at Maya causing her now to blush.

Maya squinted her eyes at her. She couldn't help but feel slightly turned on by Emily's tone. "Oh you're good Fields, you're good."

Emily burst into laughter. "Did you ever really have a doubt?" They both laughed out their awkward moment and rush of old emotions that could have suddenly come about. "Did you drive down here?"

"No. I got a ride from one of the guys in my band that was also in last night's music festival. He's leaving in a few hours back and I was planning on catching a ride with him."

"Let's do this then: I'll let you drive this car back to Philly. We'll hang out for a while there, and then I'll come back when it's time to meet my parents."

"Sounds like a win-win!" Maya smiled big and exited the car and ran around opened the door for Emily. "But I get to dive back to the hotel too!" Emily could help but laugh. She always felt this little-kid giddiness when she was with Maya. 'Why would the forces of nature ever want us to be apart?' Emily unbuckled her seat belt, got out of the car, and waited for Maya to sit on the driver's side before closing her door. She walked around to the other side and entered the vehicle. "This is so exciting!" Maya clapped and put the car into gear and drove away. They were too immersed in their little world to notice that across the street someone had seen this whole interaction play out.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. Real life has taken a toll and I've had family members in the hospital. I hope to have more time soon. I was able to allow myself to get distracted and continue. I *tried* to make this chapter a little longer. Anywho, I hope you still find it a little interesting.**

 **For those of you assuming I'm an Emison fan or an Emaya fan, lets just say I really just like Emily... lol We'll see who gets endgame :)**

 **Sorry for the typos and stuff...**

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The rest of the afternoon and even went well for the two girls. Emily's parents decided on making the drive down to Philadelphia as well to join Emily and Maya for dinner and catch Maya's performance at the club. Emily's dad especially always liked Maya for helping Emily come out of her shell more during her teen years. Emily's mom at first was a little stand offish towards Maya, but she came around and really appreciated that Maya never held Emily back from fulfilling her dream. Now, Pam Fields wished that Emily would find someone to settle down with and have a family life, and she sometimes hoped it could be Maya again. Especially since Maya lived a lot closer to home.

Emily leaned back on her chair watching Maya sing "Mona Lisa." Emily felt mesmerized but Maya's voice, she always has. She loved that Maya never went commercial with her singing and stuck to her roots, what she loved singing, jazz. Emily knew Maya probably had the talent to make it big, but she declined that contract offered to her by some record company because she refused to sing music she felt her soul wasn't connected to. As she sang, Maya would smile at Emily and occasionally wink just to be able to see Emily blush in front of her parents.

"You know, you two do make a good looking couple." Emily's dad teased when he noticed his daughter's cheeks turn a shade a pink.

"DAD!" Emily hissed with wide eyes before breaking into a smile.

Pam immediately came out to her daughter's defense. "Wayne! Leave her alone. You know she's seeing that Russian model. But I mist say, Emily," She rested her hand on Emily's arm, "Your dad is kind of right."

Emily smiled at both her parents, but leaned into the table and spoke to them in a low voice. "Geez mom, don't help me out so much next time. And you know Misha and I are not really official or anything. It's been a while since I've seen her too. We can't be saying things like this real loud either. People are real quick to be freelance paparazzis." Emily leaned back into her chair and continued to enjoy the music while her parents couldn't help but chuckle amongst themselves. After the set finished, Maya approached the table again.

"So Mr. and Mrs. Fields, did you enjoy the show?"

"Maya, you were sensational!" Wayne exclaimed. "You sing like an angel. It would be unreal to not fall in love with your voice."

Pam didn't hold back her compliments either. "Maya, your performance was exceptional just like I remember them being when you girls were in high school. I could listen to you sing everyday!" She gave Maya a hug. "Thank you very much for inviting us."

"The pleasure is all mine Mrs. Fields. I'm so glad you came." She smiles wide and notices that Wayne and pam are gathering their coats. "Are you leaving now?"

"Yes, you know us old folk can't hang out too late these days. Plus, we are still driving back to Rosewood." Wayne hugs Maya and then hugs Emily. "Breakfast Sunday, kiddo?"

"That's not meant to be a question." Pam states before Emily responds. "Now you said you'd have breakfast with us on the weekend since you were staying at the hotel, but I'm assuming you might be out till late tonight so I'm already not expecting you tomorrow. Sunday, breakfast for sure, right Emily?" Pam raised her eyebrow and silently challenged Emily to say otherwise.

Emily felt like she retreated back to her childhood when her mother would scold her, but then she couldn't help but laugh. "Are you serious right now Pam?" Pam's mouth dropped when her own daughter called her by her first name, and she play hit Emily on the arm. "I'm just kidding mom. I will be there on Sunday for breakfast… or brunch." She gave her mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you for sure on Sunday mom."

"Maya, you are more than welcomed to come as well. Now I know you two ladies are adults now, but please be careful." They each gave the girls one last embrace and left to head home to Rosewood.

"I have one more set and then the DJ takes over. Were you planning on leaving soon?" Maya asked Emily as they sat back down at their table.

"No, I'd love to stay and watch. Did you have any plans after?"

"Well, I did. But since this afternoon nothing that I had preplanned for today occurred."

Emily suddenly looked a little worried at Maya, "Did you cancel anything because of me?"

"Oh no! But remember when you saw me outside the brew I told you that my plans got postponed. I figured the girl might want to come down here and make it up to me but she hasn't really bothered to text or call me. So I guess that technically makes me free… did you have anything in mind?" Maya smiles at Emily and raises her eyebrows suggestively.

"Well, then maybe it's a good day I'm here then, if not pretty little you would have just been stood up and lonely!" Emily teased. She found she was slowly leaning into Maya .

"I guess us running into each other must mean something." They stared into each other's eyes for a moment but were interrupted by a bright flash. Emily turned her face away from the flash and used her hand to shield her face, a movement she was well practiced in. Maya on the other hand faced the flash, "What the hell?"

"Just look away and stay quiet My, don't give them anymore ammo. Is there anywhere we can go?" Emily gathered her jacket and purse and stood up with Maya.

"Yea, lets go back stage. You can hang out there until after the set and then we can leave this place." Maya led Emily to the back rooms where she would prep for her sets.

Meanwhile in Rosewood, Alison was pacing back and forth in her friend's apartment, clearly upset about something. "I can't believe this! All this shit is going to backfire in my face and for no reason! Why did Emily have to come back into town, at this precise time? Everything was going well until she showed up."

"Alison, relax! We're not children anymore, you can all talk this out and I'm sure Emily will realize that this has nothing to do with her." Paige was just sitting on her couch observing Alison pace from one side to the other. She had come to learn how to interact with an overly sensitive, overly dramatic Alison throughout the years. And since she knew from her high school experience, what exactly would set the blonde off, she always retracted from saying anything sarcastic that might bring the old mean Alison out to play again. "Look, they're just pictures. They aren't doing anything." Paige pointed to her screen on her laptop and motioned for Alison to come sit by her and see. "And so what if they just drove off together, it doesn't mean anything."

"What if it does though? What if Maya realizes she still has feelings for Emily and tries to get back with her? Where does that leave me? Or what if she finds out that I used to date Emily and discovers that I knew that all along and hates me for it? Or what if Emily tells her something about me and Maya turns completely against me? You know that Emily must hate me for something, why else would she have left seven years ago and never once tried to stay in touch with me!" Alison covered her face with his hands and attempted to rub the frustration away. She plopped herself on the couch next to Paige still covering her face and curling up into a ball with her head leaning on Paige's shoulder. "The girls were right. I should've have just come clean with Maya."

"I think you're getting ahead of yourself, Ali. First of all, Emily has never been the type of person to want turn people against each other. She might not like you, but she keeps her feelings and opinions to herself. I mean all the other girls have managed to stay friends with both of you. And from what you've told me, Emily doesn't seem to welcome you as a subject of conversation. But most importantly, Maya thinks your name is Lauren. And technically that is not a lie since it is your middle name. Unless Emily physically sees you two together, than I find it hard for Emily to figure out that you and Maya have been seeing each other. Thank goodness you didn't listen to me when I told you to just tell her your real name." Paige said in an attempt to help Alison rationalize her current situation.

Alison appreciated Paige's efforts. Who would have thought that her and Paige would some day manage to be friends since in high school they could barely be standing in the same room at the same time? It was because of Emily, nonetheless. Paige was very threatened by Emily's lead position on the swim team and would do anything to torture Emily during practice. She admitted to her after that she was jealous of Emily. When Maya left, Paige also admitted to Emily that she had romantic feelings towards her, but when it appeared that Emily would consider giving her a chance, Alison came back to Rosewood only to cause Emily to drift away from Paige. And boy, did Paige hate that Alison returned. Paige got a scholarship for swimming and offered to join the team at Penn State, so she ended up there. She tore her rotator cuff while training one day, and was unable to attend the Olympic qualifiers the same year Emily went. She realized she really didn't have a passion for swimming anymore and decided to finish up her degree in Liberal Studies and after began her Master's program at Hollis. She returned to Rosewood and found herself one day at the same bar with Alison, two years back. It must have been because they were both infused with liquid courage, but they decided to hash out their problems with each other. They both found that they had more in common than not: both were very competitive, both had outrageous parents, and both were sprung on a "what if" idea of their high school fling/crush. Paige admitted to Alison that she was sprung on Emily for years and probably only kept swimming after high school because she felt that it was the one thing she'd always have in common with Emily. Alison revealed to Paige that she at times still felt she loved Emily, and hoped that she would return to Rosewood for her. They since have been friends. They tried dating once, Alison opened up to Paige that she felt she had become a lot more attracted to girls and Paige figured they could give it a go. Their first actual date turned out to be the night Alison met Maya, and well, let's just say Paige ended up being a better wing woman than date material.

Alison remembered that night vividly. Maya was at the bar of the gay club her and Paige went to in Philly. Alison accidentally spilled her cup when another drunk girl bumped into her, causing Maya's feet to get slightly drenched with the once dirty martini Alison was holding in her hand.

 _"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Alison gasped as she took her napkin and knelt down to wipe whoever's foot she had accidentally soaked. Alison was certainly buzzed, because never in her full capable senses would she ever bother to kneel and clean someone's feet. She found herself staring at the sparkly bronze stilettoes. 'Cute shoes,' she thought as she wiped the foot in them._

 _"Don't be, having people kneeling at my feet is what I do best." Said the voice of the owner of the cute wedges stated in a sarcastic tone, with a slight chuckle._

 _Alison rolled her eyes and jerked her body to stand upright and patted down the bottom of her dress. "Well you don't have to be an ass about it. I was just trying to help."_

 _"Oh you spilled your drink on me, and I'm the ass?"_

 _Alison was getting beyond annoyed now. She finally raised her head to look at the person in front of her. Wow, she's really hot! In a normal state of mind, Alison would have been able to control herself. This was not the case tonight. Alison looked the girl up and down slowly, unable to say a word._

 _"Like what you see?"_

 _Alison immediately brought her eyes up to meet the girl's. "I'm sorry, what?"_

 _"Well, not only did you appear to find my shoes stunning, but you were obviously checking me out. So it's only fair that I asked, if you like what you saw?"_

 _Alison was intrigued by the sass in her voice. In her normal state, Alison would find this type of competition as threatening, but right now, perhaps it was the alcohol's opinion, but she found it so… attractive. She didn't fight the next words escaping from her mouth, "What if I said I actually do?"_

 _"Hmm," the girl caught on to Alison's flirty tone and decided she was in the mood to play back. "Then I would definitely say you should buy me a drink. I mean, what better way to show you visually appreciate someone?"_

 _"Oh honey, I don't usually buy drinks, I'm usually the visually appreciated one." Alison bit back. When she observed the girl's smile slightly falter as she began to turn away, Alison quickly recovered by saying, "But for you I can make an exception. Maybe if you would tell me your name first?" Alison smirked at the girl hoping to keep her interested._

 _The girls turned her body once again and faced Alison. She tilted her head and gave a flirty smile as she offered her hand out "I'm Maya. And you are?"_

 _Alison took her hand as she kept her eyes locked on hers. She never understood what compelled her to answer her with, "Lauren."_

 _"Lauren? Hmm, I guess I can get used to that." Maya teased. "So what about that drink? I'm pretty sure you're in need of a refill since you decided to wash my foot with your last one." She laughed when she saw Alison's expression change drastically from the smirk she had before. Maya took Alison's hand and began to walk towards the bar area, "Come on Lo, I'm sure the bartender knows how to make a great mango lemonade with a nice little twist." Once they got their beverages, which Alison did pay for, Maya guided her to the side where the music wasn't as loud. They chatted away for a while about their work, their hobbies and any random topic that would come up. They shared a little about how they went to the same high school but at different times._

 _Alison felt very comfortable talking with her. When she tried to scan the club and look for Paige, because she did after all come with her and literally forgot about her when she ran into Maya, she observed that Paige was indeed in good company dancing with some redhead. 'Yes, definitely staying in the friend zone with that one,' Alison thought. Alison's buzz was starting to come down, and she was kind of glad because it allowed her to focus more on Maya and her conversation with her. That was until it was interrupted._

 _"Maya! I've been looking for you everywhere!" Another tanned girl approached them._

 _"Carol! Obviously you weren't looking over here. Meet my new friend, Lo. It's short for Lauren." Maya gave Alison a charming smile as Carol extended her hand to Alison._

 _"Well, nice to meet you Lo. I'm sorry to interrupt, but" Carol turned to face Maya, "Amy is trashed and she's staring to fall asleep everywhere. You mind if we go?"_

 _Maya gave Carol a wide-eyed glare. "Ugh I guess!" She turned back to Alison and softened her tone, "I'm sorry Lo, but I have to go." She stood up from her seat and leaned into Alison pecking her on the cheek really close to her lips, something that totally caught Alison off guard. "Thanks for the drink," she said as he winked at Alison. Then she walked away, but shortly returned with a piece of paper and a pen. "You really thought I'd leave without getting your number?"_

 _Alison laughed, still in her seat as she looked at the paper and pen in Maya's hand in front of her. "Well, I sure hope you weren't expecting me to make the next move. I did after all buy you a drink." Alison took the pen and the small piece of paper and wrote down her phone number. As she put it back in Maya's, and help curl Maya's fingers around the paper. She held her hand over Maya's now closed fist. "Don't lose it." She smiled and winked back at Maya now. Maya smiled back and took a few steps backwards before turning and going with her friends. Alison watched her go and stood up attempting to see her all the way out the door. She had a good visual, that is, until she was suddenly interrupted._

 _"Do you realize who you were just flirting with?" Paige jumped in front of her and said rather loudly to make sure Alison heard her._

 _"What?" Alison was confused as to why Paige seemed so interested in that girl. "Yeah, her name is Maya. She's kind of really hot."_

 _"Umm Maya? Does that not ring a bell to you?" Paige asked as she slapped her thighs with her hands. "I know you weren't exactly in our school when she lived in Rosewood, but she was and she happened to date one of the hottest swimmers we both know well."_

 _Suddenly Alison felt weak. "Wait, you're not saying… is she? She's Emily's Maya?" Alison put her hand over her mouth "Ugh this cannot be happening! She was actually really hot and I gave her my number and bought her a drink!"_

 _"I've noticed you think she's hot. And yes she is, but isn't that just too weird?"_

 _"Well," Alison took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. "She might not even call. Besides, I told her my name was Lauren. For some mystical reason, when she asked me for my name I gave her my middle name. That has to be a sign."_

 _"Maybe. That is weird though. I didn't even know she moved back in town. Last I heard, Emily and her dated again before the Olympics."_

To Alison's surprise, she did receive a text a couple days after the club. She tried to avoid going into in depth talk and kept it to surface level texting, with hour gaps before responding. They would text back and forth once a week perhaps. Maya finally called her once and Alison was quick to ignore it. She wasn't very sure talking to Maya or getting close to her was a good idea. She wanted to come clean, just didn't want to make it awkward in how. Maya's second attempt at calling was successful. As much as Alison tried to be upfront, she found herself enjoying Maya's conversation and decided that they were just "talking" and nothing more, so there was no real need to give up that information just yet. They talked and texted on and off for some months, attempted to meet up but would fail because Alison would cancel last minute out of fear, or work would happen. The last four months however, have been different. They actually started to date and gotten to know each other better and found they really enjoyed each other's company. Alison knew there was a part she was hiding from Maya, and that was not a god way to start a relationship, but she didn't want to risk Maya putting pieces together. She couldn't be sure of what Maya knew and didn't know about her, or if Emily ever even mentioned her to Maya.

"I don't want to think about this anymore Paige. I'll call her tomorrow to make up for today. I'll tell her everything. Maybe I can still salvage something." Alison squished her cheeks together with her hand and rubbed her face a little. "Mind if I crash here tonight?"

"Absolutely not Ali." Paige answered and got up. "You can pull out the bed from the couch, it's a lot more comfortable. There's blanket in pillows in the closet. You know the drill. Want to watch a movie before going to bed? It's still pretty early."

"Sure, your choice."

"Great! Let's watch the new season of Orange is the New Black." Paige set up the television as Alison pulled out the bed and got it ready.

They both plopped down on it and settled themselves to watch. Alison couldn't really focus on the show though. She just had so many thought going through her head. 'I'll just figure this all out in the morning.' She thought to herself. She felt her eyelids get heavy and eventually she drifted off into sleep.

The next morning she woke up to the buzzing sound coming from her phone. She checked the time and it said 11:43 am. 'Ugh I slept in!' She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and saw a note on her pillow. It was from Paige saying she had errands to run and asking her to lock up whenever she left. She remembered she still had to read her text. It was from Maya. -Hey Lo, we need to talk. Think we could meet up later?- 'This is awkward, she's never "needed to talk" to me before,' she thought. Suddenly, she didn't have a good feeling about their pending conversation.

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 **hope some of you are still following... :)**

 **I'll try to update soon.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hello again. Here's the next chapter. I brought it back a little so we could see what happened between Emily and Maya.**

 **Thanks for all the reviews, they're really encouraging. I'll try to fit in some of the ideas some of you have given me.**

 **Sorry for any typos/random thoughts. I'll try to update soon.**

 **P.S. I DON'T OWN PLL (just borrowing the characters for a bit)**

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 ** _The previous night, back in Philadelphia…_**

Emily and Maya were escorted by one of the club's security guards to the back room. There, Emily met all of Maya's band mates and took pictures with them and their families. People at the club must have shared on social media that Emily was there, because attendance was really high that night. The security guards even stated that there was a line outside the door to get in, as well as some paparazzi. Once Maya's last set of the night was done, one of the security guards offered to drive Emily's car to the back of the club, so Emily and Maya could leave through the back door and not have to deal with everyone in the front. However, Emily never wanted to be like those haughty celebrities who would hide from their fans. She loved her privacy, she'd never deny that, but she would also like to show the people that made her famous some gratitude. She stated that she'd leave through the front but asked that security just walk with her so things wouldn't get out of hand. A security escorted Maya to the car first to bring it as close to the front as possible. On of the paparazzi recognized Maya from earlier attempted to snap a few shots of her and even asked if she was Emily's new girlfriend. When Emily walked out she smiled and waved at those who called on her from the line and let them take pictures of her. She then walked fast to the car to avoid any paparazzi's questions about who the 'mysterious jazz girl' was. Emily usually had her assistant James with her on all her outings. He would recognize when security was needed or help Emily avoid the paparazzi. This time though, he was still in Los Angeles taking care of her dog and making sure her plants didn't die at her house.

Maya and Emily decided to take a drive through the town. Emily let Maya enjoy driving the rental while she had it. Since it was only about midnight, Maya drove down to a fancy restaurant that had amazing views of the city.

"Are you seriously hungry again My?" Emily asked when she realized she was at the parking garage of the restaurant.

"Honestly, I could nibble on something a bit. But I wanted to bring you here to enjoy the view and the quiet. One of the regulars at the club is a manager here, so he hooks it up when I come. Their drinks are yummy!"

"Oh so you're trying to get me drunk now? I see how you do," Emily laughed. She couldn't help but take a verbal swing at Maya, especially since she was able to enjoy the different shades of red Maya turned.

Maya pretended to cough and be choked up as she laughed back with Emily. She quieted down and gave Emily a strong look straight into her eyes, "Oh baby, last I remember, I really didn't need to get you drunk to do what I wanted to do with you." Emily's mouth dropped and to say she was speechless was an understatement. Maya broke and started to laugh again and Emily only nudged her and rolled her eyes. As the approached an elevator in the building Maya pushed the button and allowed Emily in first as it opened. "The place is up on the 21st floor. The view of the city from there is amazing!"

Once they reached their destination, one of the waiters who knew Maya approached her to lead her to a table. When he realized she was with Emily he led them to a table that was outside, in a more private area. He rushed to get the heaters going outside so that the ladies would be comfortable. After he adjusted everything, he went and quickly brought them back a bottle of their finest wine, 'all on the house,' since they were special guests.

"Wow, and I thought I was something special here." Maya teased the waiter, Oscar.

"Oh Maya, you know you are. But we just want to thank you for bringing your friends." He smiled back at her. "I'll leave you a menu if you decide to get anything to eat. Would you like anything else right now?"

"No we're good for now Oscar. I just wanted to show off the view to my friend here."

"Thanks Oscar," Emily smiled and acknowledged the waiter and he couldn't help but blush. He smiled at both the women before giving a slight nod and walking away to give them privacy. "The view is amazing Maya! I don't remember ever seeing Philly like this before."

"Oh you know, hang with me and I can show you everything." She responded jokingly. "So do you always get treatment like this wherever you go?"

"Most places I do. It's mainly to get me to come back and give them free publicity for being seen here. Nothing is ever really for free in this business."

"Hell! I wouldn't care. I can get used to free $200 wine bottles." They both giggled. As Emily took another opportunity to admire the view around her, Maya couldn't help but stare at Emily. Under the flickering light the candles on the table brought, Maya couldn't help but admire the beauty of the girl in front of her. "Gosh, you're so fucking crazy beautiful, you know that?"

Emily turned to look at Maya with a smirk on her lips and a slight blush on her cheeks. She remembered when Maya used those same words to describe her back when they were in high school. "Still know how to make me blush, hu? I remember the first time you said that to me, back in high school. It's the day you finally got the courage to kiss me for the first time!"

"Courage? Oh no baby girl, I just didn't want to shock you in your little perfect bubble world. But you look so cute when you blush and you get all embarrassed I couldn't resist."

"Well, shocked I was. Obviously not shocked enough to run away from you." Emily looked intently into Maya's eyes and an almost awkward silence came over them. 'What am I trying to do here?' Emily couldn't help but question her behavior. She always felt comfortable around Maya, too comfortable. However, she knew she was flirting and she didn't want to start something maybe the two weren't going to be able to continue. Plus, there was the small fact that they were both seeing other people. "So, have you brought your other girls to this spot?" Emily finally broke the silence.

Maya laughed and took a drink of her wine. "Wow, you make me sound like I'm a player or something… If you must know, no I haven't brought anyone else here. I thought about bringing Lo here, but I guess I never came around to it. I usually just come by myself and hang out at the bar."

"So what's up with you and Lo?" Emily couldn't help but be curious. In a way, she was glad Maya was seeing someone. She also felt a little… jealousy?

"Lo, hmm… she's really, different. She's not the usual girl I'm used to dating. I'll admit, after we parted ways, it was a little hard having to get over you again. We both had so much going on, like I was busy with that group I was involved with and you with the Olympics, but I still missed you. Most girls I dated were girls I thought I saw you in. When everything feel apart from the group, and I was getting offered these bogus contracts that had nothing to do with the art I wanted to create, I just kind of laid low from the dating scene and concentrated on my career. I was at a club with my friends from here and I met Lauren there. She's a blonde for starters and super sassy. Totally seems like we're polar opposites but I guess that's what keeps it interesting." Emily watched her fixedly while Maya took another sip of her wine. "We've been talking for some time now, and I think we started turning things up a notch because as far as I know, we're exclusive, but it's not like we're officially labeled what we are." Maya shrugged her shoulders and looked away for a moment. "After tonight though, I'm not sure what's going on between us now. It's like she has this wall up and she's not sure if she's ready for me to climb over it yet. Then there's the fact that she lives in Rosewood so travel time always plays a key factor in how often we see each other. She's always busy with her event planning business."

"Wait, did you say she lives in Rosewood?"

"She does. You might know her; she said she went to high school there too. You know what, she's friends with that girl who had an undying crush on you Paige." Maya laughed when she mentioned this last part. "Oh and with Aria too. Lo and I went on our first official outing with her and Ezra, I guess so it wasn't so awkward."

"Lauren? Blonde?" Emily looked as if in deep thought trying to figure out who this girl could be. "Well, Paige rolled with a different circle than I did. But it's funny I don't know someone Aria does." Emily raised an eyebrow and pressed her little a little. "I'm surprised Aria never mentioned she went out on a double date with you to me before."

"Oh please, she probably didn't want to admit she broke code and went out on a double date with her bestie's ex. She looked totally surprised. I acted like I didn't know her through you if I must admit. I didn't want Lo getting ideas. When a girl I dated before saw a picture of you and I that I had from years ago, she freaked. She said that she didn't feel like she could meet my standards after I dated a 'celebrity.' So, as much as I love you, I keep that hidden detail from the girls I meet."

Emily rolled her eyes but still managed to give Maya a smirk. "So you love me hu?"

Maya's eyes opened wide and she almost spit out her wine. She started to laugh nervously as she pushed her tongue to her cheek. How did she let that slip? "Y-you know what I m-mean!" Maya's cheeks got red and Emily couldn't help but giggle by how flustered she looked.

"It's ok I know," Emily continued to tease.

"So, what about you and your mystery woman…" Maya leaned over on the table and whispered to Emily, "Misha?"

Just then Oscar, the waiter, came by and interrupted their moment. "Hey Maya, we're closing kitchen now. Did you two want anything before we close it out?"

Maya looked at Emily, who was giving Maya a winning smile because she was able to avoid the question, for now. "Saved for now Fields!" Maya looked at her watch, "Wow, it's 1:30am already? I didn't even notice. I think we're good Oscar, thanks." He walked away leaving them alone again.

"I didn't even notice how fast time flew by. I hope there aren't any paparazzi at the hotel when I get back to Rosewood."

"Are you going back tonight? Why don't you just crash at my place? My couch is amazingly comfortable, I don't sleeping on it and you can take my bed. And you don't have an excuse since your mom isn't expecting you tomorrow morning until Sunday for breakfast. There's absolutely no excuse for you to have to rush back to Rosewood at this time. Please? Stay?"

Emily thought about it momentarily. She then raised her hand and motioned for the waiter. "Hey Oscar! Can I bother you with a bottle of this same wine to go?" She gave him a smile he couldn't say no to and handed him her credit card when he approached the table.

"Umm, sure Miss Fields. We don't usually do this, but we can always make an exception for you. Just don't tell anyone." He winked at Emily before leaving.

"Well if I'm staying, we might as well continue the party, right?" Emily smiled at Maya as she observed Maya clapping her hand like a little excited child.

"Yay! We can totally have a girls' night. And you can tell me all about…" Maya lowered her voice, "Misha." Emily only sighed out a smile in response to that. When Oscar came back to the table with the bottle wrapped up and Emily's card, they got up to leave. Emily signed the receipt and left Oscar a hefty tip that Maya saw. "Woah! Maybe I need to change professions and work at restaurants celebrities go to if you all tip like that!"

"What? He was nice. And he did give us the first bottle. Besides, I remember working during high school and college as a waitress or barista and hated when I got stiffed on tips. "

Emily and Maya left the restaurant and headed towards Maya's apartment. Again, Emily let Maya drive her rental because she partly wouldn't give up the keys, and Emily was always used to having her assistant drive her everywhere anyways. They were both being silly on the drive singing and dancing along to the old school hip-hop and R&B songs on the radio. Once they got inside Maya's apartment, she quickly gave Emily a tank top and shorts for her to sleep in. Once the two were settled in their pajamas, Maya opened the wine bottle and took out two glasses. She sat down on her sofa next to Emily and leaned into the end putting her feet up to face Emily. Emily was checking her phone and was making a face as she read what was on the screen.

"It looks like my agent and my assistant are already freaking out. Renee is asking me if I know you and telling me my laying low skills really suck. And James is asking me if I've finally moved on. Apparently our photos that were taken earlier already went around the world and back again on the internet." Emily gave Maya her phone to see the pictures and rubbed her eyes from irritation.

"I'm sorry Emily, is this a really bad thing?" Maya was surprised that these pictures probably suggested a whole different thing because of the angle they were taken from.

"No, not really. I'm just wondering what a certain someone might think when she sees them. I hope this doesn't cause conflict between you and _Lo._ "

"Oh man, I hadn't even thought of that. Well, hopefully she's been to busy to check any social media account." Maya stayed quiet for a moment and just drank from her wine glass. "So you've avoided this question long enough and there is no waiter here to save you; what's going on between you and this Misha model?"

"Well it's a little complicated. We've been secretly dating for almost a year now. Except she's not out and she's afraid of the backlash if she does. It makes me feel like I'm back in the closet. She always associated to different guys, and she's dated dudes before me, so it just makes me feel a little insecure. While I was in Ireland filming, I saw pictures, like the ones the paps took today of us, of her and this Italian model Carlo. The first one I disregarded because they could have been at a job together for an ad or something. As more came up though, I couldn't help but think that she was probably seeing him more often than not. They were always in different settings and because she's wearing different clothes, I can only deduce that they are all on different days. I had flown home for a few days from Ireland, and everything seemed alright, even though she was a little busy with a few jobs, but I didn't really notice anything else unusual."

"Is that why you came to Rosewood right after finishing up with the film from Ireland?"

"Honestly, yes. I just don't want to deal with it right now. Part of me wanted to come home to Los Angeles and give her an ultimatum: either we go public with our relationship or it's over. But I also know it's not fair to pressure her like that if she's not ready to come out to the world. "

"And you're right Em, it isn't fair to do that to her. But it isn't fair that she strings you along like that." Maya puts her glass down on the table and places her hand on Emily's shoulder for comfort and reassurance. "You really do need to talk to her about where your relationship is going though."

Emily puts her handover Maya's on her own shoulder. "I know. I've always held myself back though. I'm not sure why, but I don't feel like I've given myself completely to any relationship. They all see so complicated, especially being a part of this business. Why can't it just be simple, and easy, and comfortable, like how it was between you and me?"

Maya smiled. "You know I ask myself that same thing? I feel that I can't take things to the next level with Lo, even though I want to sometimes, but something just doesn't click when it's supposed to."

"Why does life always separate us? I think it would just be so much easier and _normal_ for us to be together." Emily brought Maya's hand down onto her lap in between both of her hands. She started to play with Maya's fingers.

"Is that what you want?" Maya asked Emily in a very serious tone, as she used her free hand to raise Emily's chin so that their eyes met.

"What are you saying?" Emily asked in an almost whisper.

"Emily, I don't know if I would be able to handle us breaking up again. But I don't know if I could handle not seeing if you and I could be something more again. We always talk about how things don't work out, but then the seemingly do! I mean, yes, we're seeing different people, but look how this weekend has been for me? I've been stood up more than once in a day, and you have been here. What were the chances of us finding each other, again, and in Rosewood? And your relationship is a little on the rocky side too. May be this could all mean something. God knows I've never stopped loving you and caring about you. So I'm asking you again, is that what you really want? Cause if it is, I'm willing to give it a try."

Emily was quiet and looked directly into Maya's eye. She could see the sincerity in her face. Emily was speechless. She always knew she would have a thing for Maya. She was her first girlfriend who she loved very much. And things between them always seemed so easy and she loved that about their relationship. She longed to have that connection again with someone. "Yes… let's try," she peeped. Emily soon closed the gap between them and landed her lips on Maya's with force as she wrapped her arms around Maya's back and pulled her in. Maya placed one hand on Emily's jawbone and the other on the back of her neck to hold her in place.

Their kiss was passionate. Their tongues fought for dominance and which they shared, and their lips just molded into each other like they used to. Emily felt a force consume her and she enjoyed that feeling. She's only felt this electric feeling with two people before, and one of them was the person she was kissing at this precise moment. Emily's hand soon began to travel to Maya's lower back and under Maya's shirt. She began to caress Maya's back and noted that she was not wearing a bra. He hand slowly came to the front of her check and over her breast as she cupped them and began to play with Maya's nipples, causing Maya to gasp and pull away slightly.

"Em!" They both were out of breath but their faces still remained close. "We have to take it slow. I want to take you so bad, but I need to break it off with Lo before anything else happens between us. You also need to officially break it off with that Misha girl. And there's so much more that we still need to talk about. "

Emily took a deep breath and removed her hands from under Maya's shirt. She pecked Maya once on the lips and smiled into the kiss. "You're right. I'll do that as soon as possible. But for the meantime, can we just lay together and cuddle?" Emily smiled her infamous "no one can say no to this smile," smile at Maya.

"Of course we can, just no freaky business. Well, at least not yet." Maya kissed Emily again and then got up and pulled Emily up with her. They walked over to Maya's bedroom and got into bed together. Emily's head was on Maya's chest and they hugged each other. Emily absentmindedly drew patterns on Maya's arm with her finger, while Maya used her other hand to stroke Emily's hair. "So tell me, did you really date Cara Delevingne, and is it true that Cameron Diaz hit on you at a party once?" Emily couldn't help but laugh at Maya's questions. They spent the rest of the night talking clumsily until sleep overwhelmed them.

The next morning, Maya got up Emily was still sound asleep. She gently kissed Emily's temple before heading to the kitchen to set the coffee pot. She sat on one of the stools at the counter and reached for her phone that she left charging there. No messages. Hmm, it's weird that Lauren hadn't sent one text since telling her she had to postpone their lunch date. She didn't even bother to text at night to make it up like she had done in the past. "Maybe it all is a sign." She said to herself. Maya decided that if she wanted to somehow sort out a future with Emily, she'd need to break it off with Lo as soon as possible. So she sent Lo a text: Hey Lo, we need to talk. Think we could meet up later? …

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 **A/N: Next chapter is the talk... and other surprises.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ok so sorry that it's taken me so long to update this. Life has it's funny ways of messing with the things you want to do.**

 **Sorry for any typos. And just so you know, I know where I want this story to go, its just I like detours sometimes. It keeps it interesting. please be patient with me. And thanks for reading. :)**

 **I own nothing PLL...**

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When Emily woke up the next morning, she enjoyed a light breakfast with Maya. They also caught up on the probable Hollywood gossip the media might be feasting on over them. Sure enough they saw pictures of their previous night where they were close in conversation as walking into the car when leaving the club. The ones that surprised Emily the most were the ones taken outside The Brew. Those looked mighty compromising considering the flirting game she and Maya were playing at that moment, but she had no idea that paparazzi were even around. Now she knew she had to be extra careful because it was no longer a secret she was in Rosewood. She wondered how swarmed the hotel might be now that everyone was curious about this "mystery girl" Emily Fields picked up outside the coffee shop. Emily couldn't help but laugh at the nonsense stories people were coming up with. Maya found it exciting to be the mystery girl.

After breakfast and morning "news," Emily got ready to head back to Rosewood. She received a few texts from Hanna and Spencer saying they were arriving in town and wanted to meet up. They agreed to do cocktails at the Radley and perhaps go out to a later lunch to continue catching up. Emily planned to meet up with Maya again that night at the club, and bring the girls with her. Maya let Emily know that she was planning on meeting up with Lauren to break up with her. Emily in return told Maya that she would try calling Misha, but didn't feel too comfortable with ending things over a text. After a long goodbye interrupted by many stolen and given kisses, Emily finally left Maya's apartment and headed towards her hotel.

Emily arrived at the Radley hotel and was greeted by some paparazzi. Luckily, the hotel was prepared and was able to still assist with getting her inside the building without her being so exposed to them. She could hear them shout questions to her about her "mystery girl," but she would just shake her head and laugh it off. 'Let them do their homework if they really want to know,' she thought to herself. She made it up to her room and decided to shower and get comfortable. She text the girls and told them to just meet her up in her suite. She then called the reception to give them her friends' names so they would be allowed up.

An hour later, Emily heard a knock and she quickly went to open the door. "Surprise bitch!" Hanna squealed as Emily opened the door. She immediately wrapped the arm holding a bottle of champagne around Emily's neck and pulled her in for a tight hug. Aria was behind Hanna and just laughed at how tight Hanna was hugging Emily. "Momma's home! And she brought gifts!"

"Hanna you're too much! I missed you." Emily laughed but hugged Hanna just as tight and rocked side to side with her for a few seconds. She missed her best friend and hated how little they saw each other after having lived together for some time. She released Hanna and greeted aria with a hug as well and welcomed them both into her suite. "Where's Spencer?"

"Oh, she has a different first stop priority," Hanna raised her eyebrows up and down a couple times as she spoke, "if you know what I mean."

"Hanna!" Aria swatted Hanna's arm as she called out. "Boundaries!" the three of them started to laugh. "But – She did need to go see Toby already. He's been a little grumpy pants lately and we can only assume it is because they have been away from each other for a long period of time."

"Spencer has been just as snappy on the phone lately, too. Girl needs to get it in!" Hana laughed and the other two couldn't help but giggle as they rolled their eyes.

"So did you bring Caleb with you or did you leave him in New York?" Emily asked Hanna, who was already popping the bottle she brought open and pouring it into three glasses.

"Caleb is in Philly actually. He will meet with us tonight if we head out there. He's going to help Lucas set up some random tower signal or some super computer geeky thing I don't know or care anything about. He didn't want to bother on our girl time."

"Well, if you gals want we can head to Philly and watch Maya's show tonight. She had some other stuff to take care of today but I told her we would probably be meeting up with her tonight."

"Uhh, sure that sounds fun." Aria looked at Hanna wide-eyed. She turned away from Emily so she wouldn't notice the face she made.

"So you and Maya, again?" Hanna asked cautiously. She tried to give Aria a reassuring look and tried to make conversation so that Emily wouldn't suspect anything. "It's kind of random that you two would find each other here again."

"It is isn't it? Well, we're going to try things out again. She's actually meeting the girl she was seeing to break it off with her, and I'm supposed to talk to Misha but she hasn't answered any of my calls." Emily replied while looking again at her phone to see if perhaps she missed anything. She wondered if maybe Misha changed her number or maybe Misha wanted to end things this way by avoiding all contact. If that was so, Emily didn't understand why she would be so immature instead of ending things like adults. Emily was lost in her thoughts when her phone rang and scared her. She looked down and saw James name on her screen. "Hey James, what's up?... What do you mean if I know where my mystery girl is at?"

Aria gave Hanna a worried look and Hanna tried not to freak out but pay attention as much as she could to Emily's conversation.

"Yes, James I know she went to meet with a girl… Did they? Great! Poor Maya will never have any privacy again with these people. She'll learn to let it die down. OK, thanks for letting me know… Wait, there's pictures of them two already?! This is so crazy… I'll have a looksy to scope out my competition." Emily giggled while on the phone with her assistant. "Hey James, have you heard anything about Misha? She is? Well, that explains the lack of communication… Yes, I know. I need to talk to her about that. Alright, James. Give my baby Lucky a hug. I miss him. .. Ok thanks… Bye!" Emily hung up and quickly started looking through the browser on her phone.

"Everything good, Em?" Aria asked.

"Oh yeah. That was James, my assistant. He told me that the paps have pictures of Maya and Lo in their little outing right now, so I'm trying to look them up. Can you believe Maya said that lo went to Rosewood High as well? I don't remember a Lauren. Do you Hanna?" Hanna looked shocked at Aria and then turned to look at Emily with a pensive look. "How come you never told me you hung out with Maya anyway, Aria? She said told me how you two doubled a couple of time." Emily asked and then returned to her search on her phone.

"Well, about that Em…" Aria started. "I just didn't know how to tell you this. Especially since you've always been particular about a certain subject, but.."

"OH MY GOSH!" Emily froze and turned so she gave her friends her back. She stared at her phone for a long time before letting her arms drop to her sides, while still gripping her phone tightly on her right hand. She felt all her blood rush to her head. She was angry. Her close friend hid this specific thing from her. And if Aria knew about who Maya was dating, then the other two HAD TO have known and they all kept it from her.

"Em, look," Aria started to speak very softly and slowly and Hanna attempted to take a step towards where Emily was standing. "I wanted to tell you, but –"

Emily interrupted her "But what?" Emily turned to face her friends again and swung her arms out to her side before letting them fall again to her sides. "You didn't know how? C'mon Aria, we're supposed to be fucking adults here. You just say it!"

"Emily, its not like you have ever welcomed any conversation about Alison before. So how was I supposed to come out and say 'Hey, by the way, you know who Ezra and I went on a double date with? Ali and Maya!'" Aria shot back in her defense. Emily just looked at her and made attempts to say something but her anger seemed to have taken over her voice.

"Look, Em, Aria is right. You never cared to know anything about Alison since you left this place seven years ago and we've always respected that." Hanna tried to speak calmly in hopes that Emily would see reason and stop being so upset.

"Of course you'll defend her! You knew too! You guys are supposed to be my best friends, and I'm sure Spencer knew all along as well! And maybe I don't care to know anything about Alison, but you wouldn't blame me if you knew why! But I've never said anything because I would never want you guys to choose between being friends with her or with me. Obviously, you have though!" Emily was fuming. She started pacing from side to side. "And it's not just about Alison in this case, it has to do with Maya. You all know how much Maya meant and means to me! Why wouldn't you mention that fact to me?! You guys can be so wrong sometimes!" Emily stormed off into the bedroom of the suite, slammed the door and left the girls in the living room.

"Well, that didn't go very well." Hanna stated as she flopped herself to the couch and drank from her champagne. Aria started to browse through her phone to look at the pictures that were taken. She stopped at one and showed it to Hanna, who read the title out loud. "'Mystery girl is Cheating on Emily Fields with hot blonde,' greatness. No wonder she lost it."

"What do you think we should do?" Aria asked. "You think we should probably call Spencer and let her know shit hit the fan?"

"Yes! That's a great idea. Tell her to meet you at this restaurant where Maya and Ali are at so it doesn't look like a date anymore. Tell her to take Toby too, just incase Maya loses it when Ali finally has to tell her the truth. It's always better in a public setting, people have to keep their shit in public." Hanna replied. "I'll stay here with Emily, make sure she doesn't do anything drastic."

Aria texts Spencer to meet her at the restaurant and then grabs her purse and keys. She takes a gulp from Hanna's champagne before leaving. "Gosh, so much for a relax day reminiscing about the past! I hope this blows over quickly. Please, remind Em how sorry I am."

Hanna gives her a hug. "Don't worry little one, it's not your fault. She'll get over it." Hanna reassures her. "We just need to give her a little time. I'll text you if it's safe to come back later. Or if we should meet somewhere else."

"Alright." The smaller brunette leaves and Hanna walks over to the bedroom door and knocks on it. She doesn't hear an answer so she tries again.

"I don't want to talk about it just yet. Leave me alone." Emily states form the other side.

"Alright Em, I know you're mad. But I'm not going anywhere. I'll be out here, drinking my champagne… all by myself." Hanna waited a minute to see if Emily would respond, and when she didn't hear anything she became a little impatient and hit the door with a little bit of anger. "C'mon Emily! I didn't come out here, from New York, to drink by myself. I get it, you're mad, but are we really going to waste this time we have to finally hang out together like this? At least come sit with me and keep me company while I drink. You can be mad and just watch."

The door opens and an angry Emily just glares at Hanna. "Where's Aria?"

"She had to go somewhere. She'll come back later, when you don't want to choke her." Hanna gave her a little smirk and shrugged her shoulders. "Let's drink."

"Fine. Let's drink. But not that baby champagne shit you brought. There's real alcohol in the bar. And FYI, I still don't want to talk about it." Emily answered as she walked to the bar area and grabbed a bottle of vodka and two glasses. Hanna jumped over to the kitchenette area and grabbed whatever juice was in the fridge. Emily poured her glass about half way, and took a gulp with no chaser. Hanna stared amazed by her friend and tried imitating her but she definitely needed a chaser.

Meanwhile at the Modern Gem, a new little restaurant closer to the limits of Rosewood on the way to Philly, Alison and Maya sat and shared a table and talked a little.

"I have to say, I was a little surprised to get a text from you. I thought you'd be super upset for standing you up like I did. Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. After meeting with bridezilla, she kind of just stressed me out and took all my time. I really didn't want to meet up with you and your friends be all grumpy." Alison stated. She tried to keep her voice steady, but her nerves made her talk a little fast. She looked up at Maya while speaking, but Maya wouldn't maintain eye contact. Alison detected that Maya didn't seem too upset, but more, uncomfortable? "Hey," She reached out and put her hand on Maya's arm. "I'm really sorry."

Maya looked at Alison's hand over her arm and took a deep breath. She suddenly felt bad for having to have this conversation. She could tell the blonde was sorry, and in other circumstances, she wouldn't mind making her make up for it. However, Emily was waltzing back into her life, the girl she felt she would always love, and maybe this once their 'third time's a charm' moment. "Look Lo, it's ok. I mean I was upset, naturally. I got stood up not once, but _twice_ on the same day. Although, I think that everything happens for a reason and yesterday was perhaps no exception. I realized that you and I, it's like we've been at a stand still for a bit. We're comfortable and we like each other, but I feel that you've held back, which has caused me to hold back as well. Like, we seem to not click at the same time." Maya took another breath and tried to get her thoughts figured out so the next few words would come out correctly.

Alison pulled her arm back to her side of the table and started to search for anything to say before Maya continued. 'This sounds like the beginning of a breakup speech.' Alison thought to herself. 'Damn it, I won't allow Emily to take this from me too!' Right as Maya was about to continue, Alison interrupted, "You're right Maya. You're absolutely right. I have held back. You see, A few years ago, I fell madly in love with another woman, a friend of mine… my best friend. "Alison's eyes stared at the table and she began to fidget with her fingers and the spoon placed next to her coffee mug on the table. Maya just looked at her intently, she didn't expect this conversation to take that turn. "And I was not the best person to her, but she still saw the best in me, and loved me despite myself. Everything seemed to be going great, I swore I had found my "soul-mate" and life was going to be nothing but great after that." Alison looked up to see Maya's face. "Then she left me. No goodbye, no explanation or anything. I waited for her, tried looking for her, and honestly, till this very day I have no idea what went wrong or what happened that caused her to leave me like that. So I kind of felt that I deserved it. That maybe I deserved to be left because I wasn't a nice person; I wasn't a person who deserved to be loved. And I'm scared that if I decide to get to close to someone, allow myself to fall again, life is going to play another sick karma joke and I'll end up broken and more fucked up than I already am." Alison reached for Maya's hand, and Maya surprisingly allowed her to take it. "You're actually the first person in all these years, to make me even feel like I could love and be loved again."

Maya couldn't hold eye contact with Alison. She opted to look down at her hand in Ali's. Now she really felt like shit. She was about to break this girl's heart, and although she felt that something more could blossom from this relationship, she didn't know if it would be enough to get over Emily and what she knows she feels for her. "Lo, you're an amazing person. And of course you deserved to be loved. I would be lying if I said that I didn't feel that this thing between you and me could actually become a full blown relationship with a possible bright future." Maya used her other hand to cup Alison's in between her two. "This girl who left you doesn't know what she's missed out on." Maya gave Alison a sad smile and finally held eye contact. "And I think that I'm always going to be left to wonder what I'm missing out on."

Alison retreated her hand quickly, and began to breathe a little faster and stutter a little. "W-wait, w-what are y-you saying?" Her eyes began to tear up. She couldn't have lost Maya that quick. This is the first actual mess-up she's had with her. "Why would you be left to wonder about it?" Her voice cracked at the end of her question.

Maya extended her fingers on the table and slowly slid her hands back to her side of the table. She took a deep breath and sighed before speaking again. "Look Lo, I have to be honest with you. My friend that is in town is actually an ex of mine. She's from Rosewood too. We dated when I lived here, and broke up when I moved back to California. She ended up going to college out there so we hooked up again. We both followed our dreams, and that caused us to break up again. I didn't mean to meet up with her here, we just ran into each other. I don't know if it's fate, or what it is, but it wouldn't be right to lie to you, her or myself, and deny that I have feelings for her. I've always lived my life thinking that everything happens for a reason, and there's a reason why her and I just happened to meet right now at this specific moment in time." She began to drum her fingers on the table. "I really wanted you to meet her. There wasn't any other intention. But the time we spent together, reminded me of all the things I _love_ about her."

There it was: that word Alison was dreading Maya would use for Emily. Emily, who once was her Emily. Love. Maya loved Emily. "It's Emily Fields, isn't it?" Alison asked in a low voice.

"Did you see pictures online?" Maya asked a little ashamed. She was hoping Lo didn't see them, although, she knew it would be impossible since she was so in-tuned with social media.

"Yes, I did actually. Last night when I got home." Alison responded and crossed her arms over her chest and cleared her throat. "I can't say I wasn't a little jealous. You guys looked really close in those pictures." Alison demeanor changed slightly now. She was a little on the defensive side, trying to save some of her pride since she was obviously being dumped for her own ex, despite her confession.

"Lo, nothing was happening then. Those pictures were at an angle that makes it seem like something was going on. We just did a lot of talking. I needed to talk to you first before anything else happened with Emily. I don't believe in stringing people along, or playing with people's feelings."

Alison squinted her eyes at Maya, trying to disguise her anger. Maybe if she appeared offended, then she didn't have to continue having this conversation, and she wouldn't still feel the need to come clean to Maya about who she is to Emily in reality. "So are you and Emily, officially dating or something? Because, it only seems like you're having this conversation with me out of a formality."

"Lo, don't be like that. You know I'm not that type of person." Just then Alison's phone starts to vibrate really loud that it distracts both girls. "Are you going to get that?" Maya asked, hoping to diffuse the situation a little with the interruption.

Alison saw it was Aria and picked it up. "Hey Ar, what's up?"

" _There's a paparazzi in the restaurant and he's taking pictures of you and Maya. Emily saw them. She knows!"_ Aria said as fast as she could. Alison rolled her eyes. Great! This is just what she needed now. " _Spencer is on her way over. They're making it seem like Maya is cheating on Emily with you, since they've branded her Em's 'Mystery Girl.' Just please, wait there so this doesn't get messier than it needs to be. Please?"_

"How is this messier? Why should I care what they say?" Alison answered very annoyed at her friends taking matters into their own hands. "Fine. I was going to tell Maya anyway."

" _Oh shit. It's probably for the best though. Spence is on her way so it stays civilized and it doesn't look like a date. I'm on my way but it'll take me a minute."_

"What? Civilized? You know what, I'll just talk to you later." Alison hung up and sighed loudly. She began to look around frustrated that someone was taking pictures of her without her even knowing.

"Lo, what's going on? Everything ok?" Maya asked slightly worried by Alison's behavior.

"Emily knows who you're with. Apparently, her "mystery girl" is cheating on her, with me." Alison rolled her eyes at Maya. "Yeah, I read that part too."

"Ugh great! Fucking assholes! Emily knows I was going to talk to you, so I doubt she's mad. I'm sorry I didn't realize that I'd be followed now though." Maya starts looking around, but suddenly stops. She looks at Alison with a little curiosity. "Lauren, why would Aria call and tell you that? I don't understand what the big deal is concerning you. And what were you going to tell me anyway?"

Alison felt trapped. This was it, her moment of truth. "Maya, there's something you have to know, that I've kept from you."

Just then Spencer walks in and sees Alison and Maya at a table. She calls for them loudly while she walks to her table, "Maya! Ali!" And then she froze.

Maya looks up to Spencer inquisitively. "Hey Spence." Then looks back to Alison. "Did she just call you Ali?... As in Alison?" Spencer stepped closer to the table as discretely as possible, looking at Alison with apologetic eyes.

Alison gulped. 'Damn it Spencer!' she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and tried to compose and calm herself as much as she could before "Maya, I swear I didn't do it with a bad intention. I didn't know who you were till after I met you. But my name isn't Lauren, that's my middle name actually. My name is actually Alison Lauren DiLaurentis."

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 **Thanks for sticking around this long if you got here. Comments/ reviews are always welcomed. I'll try to update soon again.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Ok so this is kind of a filler chapter. It's short but it's something. Sorry for any typos. I tried to proof read, but it's not always a good idea for me because then I want to change everything. Anywho, hope you're still with me.**

 **Thanks for the reviews. I try to consider everyone's suggestions. As whether it's an EMAYA or EMISON story... TBD... :)**

 **I own nothing PLL...**

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"What?" Is all Maya can manage to say. She's not sure how she feels right now. Is she mad, or confused? Spencer sits down at their table, now in between Alison and Maya.

"The day I met you, I was out with Paige at that club. I kind of had a habit of meeting people and giving them my middle name." Alison spoke quickly, she feared Maya would come to her senses, become really angry and not let her finish her explanation. "I didn't expect to see these people again. I didn't expect you to even bother to call or text me after that day. I just know that more people would figure out who I was by my first name, and when I was out I just wanted to be anyone but me. I didn't expect for us to hit it off like we did. And I never expected to meet you at all, Maya. It was only later that Paige told me who you were, and Aria confirmed it. I had no clue you and Emily were ever a thing."

"Oh, we were more than a thing, Alison." Maya glared at her. No, she was definitely mad. Not confused at all anymore. "You mean to tell me, you've known who I was since right after we met, _months and months_ ago, and you just never felt a need to tell me anything? Are you only telling me now because Emily happens to be in the same town now?

"Maya, I really wanted to tell you. I know I should have way back when, but I didn't expect for there to even be a talk about 'us.' I always figured you'd end up fading away. And when that wasn't happening, I just started getting scared that this would cause you to leave me without really getting to know me." Alison answered.

"I don't know you!" Maya objected a little louder than she wanted to.

"Umm guys," Spencer casually cut in, slightly smiling trying to give an impression that everything was going well. "Can I remind you that yes, we're in a public place, and yes there is some wanna be paparazzi here who's already snapped a few photos of you two and placed them on the internet." Spencer is looking around casually trying to see if she could figure out what other customer or person here is possibly taking the pictures. She spots a man drinking his coffee, looking around casually and his phone in an upright position on the table. "Nailed it!" Spencer motions for the waiter and whispers something in his ear. "And a coffee please, black. When you get the chance." She smiles back at him. The girls then see that the waiter goes towards the kitchen area and comes back out with another woman, who they presume is the manager. She walks over to the man's table, and he clumsily drops his coffee cup on the table because his nerves betrayed him as he tried to put his phone away. She calls for someone to help clean it up and then escorts the man out. Then the waiter brings a cup of coffee to Spencer at the table. "Thank you, very much. I'm glad this fine establishment cares about it's patrons."

Maya and Alison are kind of impressed by the actions that took place in those short minutes. "Wow, Spencer. What did you say to the waiter?" Maya asked in awe.

"Just some lawyer lingo about suing for whatever reasons. Threaten to sue someone and use vocabulary that you'd only expect to hear on law shows, and people will move rather quickly." Spencer states as she starts to drink her coffee.

After the small distraction, Maya was able to gather her thoughts. "Lauren, I mean Alison, see I don't know what to call you anymore!" She sighed with frustration. "It's like a big blur right now in my head. I don't know you. I thought I did, and I liked who I knew."

"And that is really who I am! Why is it so hard to understand that? If I told you right from the get-go who I actually was, Alison, "Emily's ex," would you have even given me a chance? I know what stigmas my name carries because of high school, and that's the main reason I will introduce myself as Lauren to people who don't know me half the time. What I don't know is what my name means to you, considering you've probably built your opinion about who Alison DiLaurentis is, on whatever Emily has told you." Alison countered. Something in her felt like this was something worth fighting for. Maybe her relationship with Maya would end, but for once she was going to defend herself without always having to come out as the ultimate bitch. Yes, she knew she was wrong, but she had no ill intentions, regardless of what Maya might think right now.

Meanwhile, Spencer was watching like a simple spectator watching a Ping Pong match, her eyes bouncing from one girl to the other, as she sipped her coffee. She definitely wasn't about to throw her two cents in. She feared her head would be chopped off. She thought about how Emily was going to be acting towards her, and she feared the outburst but knew it had to happen in order for her friend to get over it. Hanna, Aria and Spencer all knew they were wrong for keeping this information from Emily, but they also were Alison's friends, and wanted to allow her to come clean with Maya before. Unfortunately, that didn't happen… of course, everything seems to stray from its true intentions.

Maya looked at Alison straight in the eye. She felt drained. And now she felt like she needed to just get back to Emily. If she just found out, she must not be taking this information very well. Alison was right, she wouldn't have given her a chance, how could she? She doesn't know exactly what happened between the two that Emily felt so heart broken, but she didn't care to. All she knew was that she broke Emily's heart; _her_ Emily's heart. "You're right Alison. I wouldn't have probably given you a chance, but that was my choice to make. Not yours. You had no right to try and play me like that. What if Emily would have never come back to Rosewood? Were you ever planning on telling me? This would have never worked, because you cannot start any relationship with a lie."

"I swear Maya, I didn't lie to you about anything else. Everything we shared wasn't a lie. I'm not that Alison anymore." Alison wrinkled the napkin in front of her. She was starting beg, and this was very uncharacteristic of her. She really did care for Maya though, and last time she cared about someone, she allowed her to leave and didn't really put up a fight. "Look, I fucked up. I care about you, and it might be hard to see that right now, but I do. I just want you to be happy. I'm just sorry that it's not going to be with me." Alison's held back all tears. She couldn't look at Maya anymore. Who fears had come to pass, and once again, she was going to be alone.

"I'm mad right now Alison. I won't lie." Maya hated to leave things on a bad note. So she tried her best to keep it together, after all, deep down inside, she knew Alison wasn't a horrible person and they did share some good times together. "Maybe in some time, we can hang out, but just as friends. Right now, even before knowing this truth, I think the timing is just not there. Emily came back to town for a reason, and I think I want to… I _need_ _to_ explore that." She looked over at Spencer, who had her hand on Alison's arm attempting to give her comfort while she was being broken up with, and gave her a nod. "I have to go. Take care of yourself Alison. If this is the new you, don't hide it from the next person to come into your life. They might just be the one." And with that, Maya walked over to pay the bill and left. Alison didn't bother to look up until she was sure Maya was gone. She didn't like for people to see her cry, and maybe Spencer was one of the few who she trusted to have that privilege.

"Let's go Ali, we can go back to the barn." Spencer told her while she rubbed her back.

"If it's ok, I just want to be alone right now Spencer. I need to go back to The Brew, there's things that need to get done." Spencer looked at Alison. It was just like her to try and shrug things off and carry on with her life. It was typical Alison to always want to just be alone.

"I'm your friend Ali. You don't have to push me off or away; I can be here for you. Let me, for once. C'mon, I didn't come here all the way from D.C. to just be pushed away from my friends."

Alison wiped at the ends of her eyes, "Didn't you come to see Emily? Shouldn't you be over with her right now?" She didn't mean to always be so bitter, but it always came out, especially when she felt hurt.

"I came to see my friends Alison. Whether you like it or not, I consider you one of my best friends. I can possibly come for one reason, but if any of my friends needs me, I will rearrange my priorities." Spencer gave Alison a small smile.

"Thanks Spence. I really don't want to be alone. Let's go back to the barn, for old times sake." Spencer cupped Alison's hand in hers, and then got her up to leave the small restaurant. They rode back in Alison's car, since Toby had dropped Spencer off. They text Aria and told her to meet them there.

Back in Emily's hotel room, the liquor kept flowing. Emily had cussed out Hanna all she could about how she betrayed her. Hanna took it all in though. She knew Emily would get over it, and since she knew she, Spencer and Aria had definitely fucked up as Emily's friends for a different friend's reason, she deserved everything Emily was saying to her. Finally, Emily let it all out and was able to sit next to Hanna as they continued to drink.

"I'm still mad at you guys, Hanna."

"I know."

"You guys really suck. Like really, really suck."

"I know." Hanna sighed and took another gulp of her drink. "At least you're not yelling anymore."

"Ugh all that yelling was getting me exhausted! Fuck you guys suck more! Make my ass all mad, then make me yell and get all exhausted."

"Ok, do we do anything else but suck?"

"NO!" Emily attempted to glare at Hanna, who couldn't help but burst into laughter. Maybe it was the all the alcohol in their system, but Emily knew these girls for far too long to stay really mad at them. She was hurt more than mad, and only with time would she get over it. They were all like sisters after all. She couldn't help but laugh with Hanna. Definitely, the alcohol was getting to both of them. Finally, their laughter subsided and Emily laid her head on Hanna's lap. Hanna began to play with Emily's hair. "You know, if I never made the Olympics and all this other stuff with Hollywood didn't happen, I probably still would have been with Maya all these years. We probably would've been on the verge of getting married. Then she probably would have never gotten mixed up with that selfish bitch, Alison."

"Woah, tiger! Let's not go down the "what if" lane. Because you're life is actually pretty awesome now. I love having a famous bestie!" Hanna giggled as Emily shoved her playfully. "Everything happens for a reason. See, if Alison never got you that upset, you would've never left like you did. So in a weird way, you kinda have to thank her."

Emily shot up and jerked her body as far away from Hanna as possible without leaving the couch. "Thank her?! Are you fucking kidding me? That bitch broke my heart, literally walked all over it. I guess I only have to thank her for showing me the real her before I missed out on the rest of my amazing life." Emily took a gulp straight from the vodka bottle and squinted a little as she swallowed. "Fuck Alison. I hate her for what she did to me, and what she was planning on doing with Maya."

"Planning on doing with Maya? Em, you never really told us what happened between you two. I mean, I guess I figured you were heartbroken." Hanna tried softening her voice as she spoke, she really didn't want to rally Emily up again. But she figured it was already an awkward moment, so why not try to get down to the bottom of whatever happened seven years ago.

"She broke my heart." Emily's voice cracked and she stared off into space. "She deliberately, played with my feelings and broke my heart." She sucked in a gulp of air and fought back the tears that were threatening to come out. "And that's all you need to know about it. I'm over that. It just pisses me off that she tried to play with and manipulate Maya's feelings. Maya is nothing like her. She doesn't deserve to even have met her." Emily poured more vodka into her glass but still kept a grip on the bottle. "I love Maya. I always have. I probably always will. And I know she really loved and loves me." Hanna added juice to Emily's cup before she continued to take straight shots of vodka, and took the bottle away from Emily.

Now, sober Hanna learned to filter herself with her words and thoughts, and sober Hanna would probably have left the conversation about Alison there. However, Hanna wasn't sober, so any filter was gone, and curiosity blurted out. "Em, Ali was totally trashed when you left. I think she really loved you too. I don't get why you think otherwise. I was there, and as much as I was against you two because of how she was when we were freshmen, I really think she loved you. She was so different when you two were together. She was so… in love."

"Alison only loves herself. She likes the feeling of other people loving her and wanting her. She doesn't care about anyone else. Hell, she'll even think she's into girls for that attention. I guess it depends on her mood." Emily blurted. She was bored with the subject. There was just one thought burning through her brain. "Hanna, do you think Maya and Alison were, you know, intimate?"

Hanna's eyes almost popped out of her face and she almost spit her drink. She coughed and Emily patted her back trying to help her calm down. "Emily, why would you wonder about that? How the hell am I supposed to know? Ali and I aren't friends like that, I never asked her about those details. I'm not as interested in her sex life like I am in yours. You're my bestie!"

"Just the thought of Maya touching Alison… ugh it irks me." Emily rolled her eyes.

"Wow, you find Alison that repulsive that you wouldn't want Maya if she touched her?" Hanna asked, a little confused by the statement. It was probably the alcohol that attributed to the fact she totally misinterpreted what Emily said.

"No, I mean, the thought of Alison touching Maya, that bothers me! I've always been jealous that someone else would get to touch Maya and have her affection, the fact that it's Alison, makes me want to throw up." Emily said. She felt jealous in more than one way. She felt jealous that they probably had each other, while she missed both of them. Wait – both of them? 'I have to stop drinking, my mind is drunk and so are my thoughts.' Why would she be jealous about Alison? She was over her. She didn't love her or want her anymore. Not like she knew she wanted Maya.

"So, since we're on that topic," Hanna walked over to the mini bar to see what other bottles were there, "Did you and Ali ever do the nasty? I mean, I know you were hot and heavy. We assumed but we never really asked about her, especially cause you bolted right after graduation."

"Why are we even talking about this?" Emily threw herself dramatically on the couch and shielded her face with her hands. "But if you really must know, yes we did." She took a hand away and smirked at Hanna through the opening while she blushed. "A few times actually."

"Killer!" Hanna howled. "I think I like this drunk, angry Emily today. She can talk about anything."

"Well, sucky drunk Hanna asks a lot of questions." Emily responded. She suddenly got serious again. "Hanna, you really think she loved me?"

Hanna sat on the floor and leaned against the couch. She rested her head near Emily's after putting the new bottle and her cup on the coffee table. "I really think she did." Hanna turned her head to see Emily staring up at the ceiling. "Did you feel anything when you saw her again?"

"I don't know. It was weird. My body reacted. She's still a very attractive woman." Emily answered honestly. "There are too many damaged feelings to really know. But when I heard Maya's voice, it was like meaning was walking into my life again." Emily smiled, and caused Hanna to sigh as she also looked up at the ceiling like a big dork in love. "With Maya it's always been simple. She's so fun. I love her. And I feel like a giddy kid when I'm around her. She super fucking hot, and her kiss is amazing. It has to be fate that Misha and I didn't work out and I came here. I just have to tell Misha still."

"So you and Misha are done?" Hanna asked and Emily shrugged her shoulders and then nodded. "What's up with these blondes in your life? Why must I be the only one who makes sense?"

Emily burst into laughter. "You know, I'd definitely go for you if you swung my way right?" She smiled and raised her eyebrows.

"Same fam! But as irresistible as you are, I kinda like the D!" Hanna laughed as she tapped Emily's nose with her finger.

"Gross!" Emily made gagging sounds and continued to laugh with Hanna. Just then they heard a knock on the door.

Hanna sprung up to her feet. "Maybe it's Spencer and Aria! Get up and open the door! I have to go pee." And having said that she ran to the bathroom.

Emily grunted as she got herself up and stomped to the door. She remembered she was supposed to be mad at her friends and didn't want to give them the impression that they would be off the hook that easily. She grabbed the handle and through the door open. "Well it's about time you came over you cow-!" She stopped talking as soon as she realized who was on the other side of the door. "Maya."

"Hey, can I come in?" Maya smiled sweetly at Emily. "Are you drunk at 2 in the afternoon?" She couldn't help but laugh.

"Maybe," Emily responded sheepishly. "I blame Hanna, and my other 'friends' for being cowards and not telling me about you and Alison. Or you and Lo, whatever you called her." Emily extended her hand to Maya and pulled her inside while shutting the door.

"Emily, about that. I didn't know." Maya pushed Emily back a little to lean on the door. She pressed herself against Emily's body. Maya looked into Emily's eyes and said with a serious tone, "I would've never started anything with her if I knew who she really was. After all the pain I saw in your eyes because of her when we found each other in California, I probably would have given her a piece of my mind since day one." She leaned in and pressed her lips against Emily's lightly. She could taste the alcohol and smell it on Emily's breath. "I love you, but how much have you had to drink babe?" She laughed as she took Emily's hand and pulled to the couch where she sat down and Emily laid with her head on Maya's lap.

"I don't know. I was so mad I just drank. My friend SUCK!" she yelled hoping Hanna would hear.

"Who are you yelling at babe? Are you drinking alone?"

"No, SUCKY HANNA is in the bathroom." Emily was talking without opening her eyes. Maya knew that she was probably going to pass out any moment now.

"Hey! I don't suck!" Hanna blurted out as she made her way back into the living room area of the suite. "Are we starting with this again?" She saw Maya and suddenly felt a little embarrassed. "Hey Maya. I'm real sorry about everything."

Maya managed to smile. She wasn't upset with Emily's friends. She realized they were in a tough position. "It's alright Hanna. Everything is going to be cleared up soon enough."

"Want a drink?" Hanna offered. They soon were able to hear a faint snore and both looked to find Emily was indeed, out. "My drinking body K.O'd on me." The girls laughed and Hanna poured Maya a drink. They talked a little and caught up with each other, all while Emily slept.

After a couple hours, Maya realized she had to leave to head back to Philly for her show at night. "She's going to have a major hang over when she wakes up. I'm guessing you won't be making it out tonight."

"I guess not. I don't know how I'm still up right now." Hanna yawned. "Hey, Caleb might go with Lucas. You should catch a ride back with him and stay here. I'm sure Emily won't mind. We can go to the Fields' house for breakfast in the morning."

"Sounds like a good plan. Tell Caleb I'll put his name down on the guest list." Maya gave sleeping Emily a kiss on the lips and made a face. "How much did she drink? Her lips taste stronger than the drink you made me!" She laughed. "She's definitely not going to be a happy camper." Maya grabbed a few pillows and propped Emily's head up a little with them. "This should help not allow all the blood to go to her head, hopefully." She said her goodbyes to Hanna again and left.

* * *

 **Yay you made it! See you soon!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello... sorry, I have no excuse other than I just had no mindset to write/type. I was like permanently blocked and uninterested for a while. In more than just this. Please don't be too mad.**

 **Sorry for any typos or autocorrects that could've probably changed my words all together. Thanks to those who encouraged me to continue. :)**

 **I don't own anything PLL...**

* * *

Later, just after midnight, Maya returned to the hotel with Caleb. Hanna greeted her and informed her that Emily had gotten up and was in the shower. Hanna and Caleb left before Caleb could get comfortable, to their room a floor down. "We'll see you tomorrow morning. I'll come up so we can go the Fields' house for breakfast," was all she said before closing the door behind her.

Maya carried a bag she packed over to the bedroom and put it on an empty chair. She heard the water from the shower shut off so she decided to change quickly into her pajamas before Emily came out. Except she wasn't fast enough, and Emily came out wrapped in a towel while she had just slid off the dress she was wearing at the club. So there she was standing in a strap-less bra and lace underwear, while her hair cascaded over to her left shoulder. Emily's jaw dropped instantly, and she couldn't help but stare. Maya quickly reached into her bag to take out a t-shirt. As she pulled it out and pushed an arm through, Emily stretched out the hand she wasn't using to hold her towel up and objected, "Please don't!" She had a teasing smile of amusement that went to her eyes, and although glossy from still being somewhat inebriated, Maya knew exactly what that smile would lead to.

"Well there you are." Maya said in a very flirty tone. "I'm surprised you're up. I figured you tapped out until tomorrow morning, you never really were a drinker."

"You see, that's where you're wrong love, my current lifestyle has taught me a thing or two about curing hangovers quickly." Emily giggled, "except I'm still a little drunk so I'm still hoping this shower stuff blocks out a potential hangover." She took a couple steps closer to Maya and took the shirt she tried to put on out of her hands and threw it over to the side of the bed, as she looked Maya up and down very slowly and deliberatively. "I know what else might help." Emily slid the tip of her fingers on the waistband of Maya's underwear from her hip to the middle of her back, before parking her hand right above Maya's voluptuous backside.

"I do know one thing hasn't changed about you: how horny you are when you do drink!" Maya said with a big smile, as she caressed Emily's arm softly and slowly, causing Emily to get very visible goose bumps on her skin.

"Guilty!" Emily leaned her head forward and softly kissed Maya. They both smiled into the small pecks they initially shared and enjoyed the closeness. Emily, being pressed against Maya, let go of her towel and used that now free hand to stroke the side of Maya's neck and shoulder before softly kissing her way up and down. "But your scent is what is intoxicating me right now." Emily's hand gripped Maya's ass which caused her to let out a whimper and toss her head back, allowing Emily to latch on to her neck and trail open mouth kissed to her collar bone. Emily's other hand when towards the strap of Maya's bra. "I definitely wouldn't mind this hangover."

Maya threw her arms around Emily's neck gripping her hair. She pulled Emily's head back so their mouths would connect, and began to take steps backwards towards the bed. Maya kissed Emily with a lot of intensity, and Emily remembered that Maya was always this devoted to her when they made love. Emily loved feeling like Maya could devour her all in one moment, but then take her to the highest level of ecstasy and be so gentle and protective the next. Maya could also be very submissive to Emily in other times, allowing her to take full control and live any and every fantasy she desired. Maya legs finally hit the bed, and as Emily pushed herself on top of her, she also managed to get Maya's bra off, and let her towel drop simultaneously. Maya slowly raked her eyes over Emily's body, reacquainting herself with every part of it. There was no doubt in Maya's head that this woman would never cease to drive her crazy. Emily quickly linked her index and middle fingers on the sides of Maya's panties and pulled them down and off of her. As she was about to reposition herself on top of Maya, Maya grabbed Emily by her hips and kicked a leg over to flip them, leaving her on top of Emily. There she was: the 'Aggressive Maya' Emily would always want to play with.

As Maya began to feel Emily's breasts and kiss her chest with open mouthed kisses, slightly biting and sucking Emily's skin, some sudden thoughts hit Emily like a freight train: Was Maya this aggressive with Alison? Did Alison enjoy this side of Maya as much as she did? Did Maya make Alison squirm like she had all those years ago? Emily couldn't control her thoughts from continuing to wander and she felt disgusted by it, but she went back to that time where she touched Alison for the first time. She remembered how rosy her cheeks got and how the beads of sweat rolled down from her forehead, and how sexy her moans were. No, she had to stop doing this to herself.  
'Concentrate Emily!' She quickly reached for Maya's face and pulled her back to her lips, in hopes that these thoughts would dissipate. She kissed her hard and hungrily. She loved Maya, and Maya deserved her full attention especially after all this time. She flipped them over again causing Maya to gasp at Emily's sudden sense of control. Emily wanted to make Maya lose it completely and utterly. She needed to hear Maya's sexy moans and wanted Maya to be screaming her name. She wasted no time in finding those spots she knew very well drove Maya crazy and dove right in. She kissed and sucked on her breasts and found her favorite spot right in between the valley of the two. Her hands wasted no time at all in tickling down Maya's thighs, and teasing around her center. Emily kissed Maya's abdomen and inched over to the left hip, where she bit her gently and caused Maya to squirm, right before Emily's mouth met with Maya's welcoming center, Maya cradled Emily's face with one hand and lifted her chin so their eyes would meet. "I love you," Maya said between deep and heavy breathing. Emily's eyes were dark with desire, but her smile caused them to light up a tad and she responded with, "I love you too," and continued on her mission to bring extreme pleasure to the girl that lay with her. And she did not disappoint. Maya moaned and screamed and reacted in every which way that only turned Emily on even more. With all thoughts of jealousy she had of Maya and Alison, or Alison and Maya buried away, Emily allowed herself to love and be loved in more than one way by Maya. Finally, after a few hours passed the two were exhausted and fell into deep sleep in each other's arms.

In a different part of town, Spencer and Aria were helping a very drunk Alison into her apartment. "I didn't think she could drink this much!" Spencer said to Aria as she dragged Alison to the couch.  
"Oh, you know Ali, she's always full of surprises." Aria chuckled a little and put a blanket over Alison and then took off her shoes. "She was on a mission tonight though. It's been a while since she drank this much. Actually, since she started dating Maya she kind of calmed down a bit."  
"I'm so glad Toby was there. Those creeper guys would've tried something and I'm not too sure Alison was at all able to defend herself. She probably would have gone home with them!" Spencer's phone buzzed and she looked down to read a text. "Speaking of Toby, he's downstairs waiting for me. Do you mind if I leave?"  
"Of course not Spence, go! God knows the poor guy has missed you all this time. He's been such a grouch actually!" The two girls laughed at Aria's comment. "Oh, before you go, did you get a text from Emily?"  
"Yeah, you mean the one where she called us cowards but still invited us to her mom's house for breakfast? I got it. She probably got wasted tonight too. I think it's better if we're there. We need to get over this hump and I don't want her to think we're picking sides or something."  
Aria sighed and sat down on an empty chair. "True. Hanna text me and told me they were staying in at Emily's hotel room, probably to avoid the paparazzi. Gosh, so much for attempting to get these two to talk it out. All this just probably made it worse. Anyway, I'll be there in the morning. I'll just make sure this one is alive enough to be left alone." Spencer said her goodbyes and left Ali's apartment.

The next morning, Emily woke up first, as usual, and popped two advils and drank a bottle of water before any headache lingered in from a possible hangover. She felt slightly tired, but amazing. She looked at Maya sleeping on her back with the sheet barely covering her and couldn't help but want to touch her again. She was careful as she balanced her weight on her arms and knees not to smash Maya, and slowly slid down so her hands were under each of Maya's shoulders, and she lightly kissed her cheeks, nose, and lips causing Maya shudder a little as she woke up.  
"A girl can get used to waking up like this." Maya said with her eyes closed but a huge smile on her face. "Except, I doubt the morning breath is anything but sexy." She couldn't help but laugh and turn her face to the side.  
Emily laughed with her and kissed her cheek and her neck. "I guess sometimes I can take one for the team." Emily kissed her collarbone and the top of Maya's chest and made her way back up to the other side.  
"Mmm, babe, as much as I love this and would like to continue, we can't. Your parents are expecting us. And I'm actually hungry for food right now!"  
Emily buried her face in Maya's chest and groaned. "Ugh! You're right. I am too." She rolled off of Maya to her side of the bed, taking the sheets with her leaving Maya's upper body uncovered. She bit her bottom lip as her eyes surveyed Maya's naked body. "But I'll definitely be hungry for dessert later." She winked at Maya and quickly pecked her lips before getting up and making her way to the bathroom. Just as she was turning on the water, she saw the curtain open and Maya come inside the shower with her. Emily eyed her and gave her a small smirk.  
"What? I figured we could save some time and water." Maya said with a teasing smile on her face. Emily didn't object to her underlined suggestion and immediately leaned in to kiss Maya, while grabbing her by her hips and leading the two under the running water. After their quickie in the shower, and their actual shower, Maya and Emily got ready and waited for Hanna and Caleb to meet them before heading out the Fields' residence.

As the four arrived to Emily's parent's house, Spencer and Toby were also pulling up. Hanna, Caleb and Maya went forward to meet them and say their hellos. Emily stood back a few steps and just waited for Spencer to acknowledge her. Spencer being the intelligent person she is, caught on quick to the serious demeanor in Emily's face.  
"Hey Em."  
"Spencer." Emily was short. They both stood outside on the sidewalk while the others went to sit at the porch to wait.  
"Look Em, I know you're mad. I'm sorry. You know that I wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt you ever. It's just a hard place to be between you & Ali! None of us meant to hurt you. Please, don't be mad at me for too long... Please?" Spencer held her clasped her hands together in a begging motion as she asked Emily not to be mad at her.  
Emily breathed in and sighed loudly, her hands in her coat pocket. She pressed her lips together and looked down the street avoiding Spencer's eyes for a moment. "I'm mad, I won't lie." She turned to face Spencer finally, "but it's nothing I won't get over. You might have your reasons for keeping quiet, but maybe next time, if there is a next time, just try me and tell me? Let me have the option of deciding if I care or not."  
"Deal!" Spencer quickly responded. They both kind of looked at each other with a mischievous grin and couldn't help but finally laugh. Emily embraced Spencer and finally pulled her into a hug.  
"You girls are like my sisters. You know I can't be that mad for long. You still suck though!" Emily hooked her arm with Spencer, "now let's go eat cause I'm starving!"  
A while later Aria and Ezra arrived to the Fields' home, and Emily had a conversation with Aria similar to the one she had with Spencer. Aria explained that she technically lived in the same city as Alison, and that they would spend a lot of time together so it was really hard for her to say anything. Emily did her best to understand and forgave her friend. Of course, with a new pact made that they will always try their best to be completely honest and forthcoming with each other in the future.  
The girls enjoyed breakfast together and laughed liked they used to. Mrs. Fields didn't upset and served up some amazing food. There were a few awkward moments when reminiscing about the past, Alison would be mentioned, but then Hanna took it upon herself to make a silly comment, which would bring back the laughter. Emily really missed being around her friends like this. She felt lucky to have this life that allowed her to be successful and have her family and friends with her, as well as someone who she loves and loved her back. It felt like everything was just as it should be: perfect.

Alison woke up in her apartment, on her couch with a really bad headache. She remembered Aria trying to wake her up before she left, and only heard something about Advil and water on the table. She opened her eyes to them right in front of her on the coffee table and felt so grateful to have friends that were sober and cared. She instantly put the pills in her mouth and downed the water. "Gosh what the fuck did I drink" she yelled into her pillow. She decided she was unable to adult today, and was thankful for the fact that she never planned much on Sundays so she could stay in all day. She checked her phone and responded to Aria telling her she was alive. She decided to text Paige and see if she'd come over and watch movies. She would have loved to invite the girls over to lounge around her apartment and have a lazy Sunday while she got over her hang over, but she figured they were with Emily and Maya… ugh, the thought of them being together again made her sick; although, it was probably all the alcohol still lingering in her system that was giving her the nauseous feeling. She felt super jealous, and the pounding headache didn't allow her to determine who she was more jealous of. "Oh Alison, you fucked up real good this time." She definitely regretted lying to Maya. However, she remembered Maya telling her that if she knew who she was, she probably wouldn't have given her a chance. "Damned if you do, damned if you don't." Alison groaned in her pillow again and got up to her kitchen to grab another water bottle, or two. Paige texted her back saying that she'd come by in an hour. Alison threw herself on her couch again and decided to fall asleep. She had no energy to think or even have a pity party at this point.

The next couple of days were calm. Hanna was "working form home" as she called it and decided to stay the week. Her reasoning had to do with the fact that they never knew when Emily would come back to Rosewood. Spencer on the other hand left Monday morning and promised to come back Thursday night. They spent Tuesday in Philly, and Wednesday Emily and Hanna went back to Rosewood, without Maya, since she had a few music classes to give and rehearsal with her band. They promised to come back out with Spencer and Aria on Friday and spend the day there. On their way back, Emily and Hanna decided to surprise Aria by showing up to her studio with a little lunch and some wine.

"Hello! Is anyone home?" Hanna shouted as the pushed the door and walked in. "We bring gifts!"

Aria came out of the back room with a rag and a lens. "Hey girlies! What kind of gifts?" She asked while she set down her lens and peeked into one of the bags Hanna set down on an empty table.

"Oh you know, the edible and drinkable kind." Emily responded as she flaunted the bottles of wine she had in her hands. .

"Oh those are the best kind!" Aria laughed out. "You do not know how much I need this right now. The bride whose wedding I'm shooting on Saturday is totally driving me up the wall crazy! She has so many demands and I'm just glad all I really have to worry about is the pictures. I can't imagine how crazy she might be driving Ali with the rest of the wedding planning."

Emily flinched a little when she heard Alison's name, but continued to sip her wine and act like it didn't affect her. "Well, I'm sure the pictures will be marvelous! Is Toby going to help you?"

"Yea, he's going to be with the groom for most of it." Aria took a gulp of her wine. "The groom is such a chill guy though, I don't see how he puts up with his future wife."

Hanna refilled Aria's cup, which she seemed to be drinking rather quickly. "It's called balance Aria. Imagine if they were both insane, God bless the world! Like Caleb and I; he's super not like me at all. We have almost nothing in common, but he fits. He's the calm one. I wouldn't be able to handle someone just like me. And it keeps it interesting I'm assuming for both parties if he's stuck around this long."

"I guess you're right." Aria agreed with Hanna. "Ezra is always the logical one. We have stuff in common, but I think I always flip out and stress while he is more solution oriented and calming. I'm so bummed he's going to finally be here this weekend and I'm barely going to spend time with him."

"When's the end of his book tour?" Emily asked as she bit into a pita chip with hummus.

"He's still away like this for two more months. I guess it will go by quickly." Aria responded.

"It's hard. I know when Misha was away for long periods of times I would secretly try and surprise her. Or I would try to come home as often as possible when I was shooting out in Ireland to see her even if it was only for a couple days. She tried to come see me when she could too. It just has to be a two way street." Emily stated. "I guess having money does have it's perks when it comes to things like this. The hardest part was hiding from the paparazzi."

"I would love to be able to fly out and meet him everywhere." Aria got up to grab a wine bottle she had in her fridge in the back room. "He invited me to join him here and there, but if I really want to do something with my photography I have to concentrate on it and work. When he comes back, I guess we can hibernate for a while or take a little vacation."

"Oh, watch this little one get kinky!" Hanna teased. "Hey Em, have you thought about what's going to happen between you and Maya? I don't suppose you plan on moving back out here or Philly now do you?"

Emily looked at Hanna kind of thrown off by the question. She hadn't at all thought about this minor detail. "Well, we haven't really talked about it. I guess I'd be coming and going for a while. Maybe she could come live with me if she wanted. I mean, there's a lot more possibilities for her out in L.A."

"What about her gig out in New York? Isn't she supposed to go up there next week to discuss that?" Aria asked Emily.

"Hello!" Hanna interrupted before Emily could answer. "That would be perfect! She could come and live in New York and you will just go between L.A. and N.Y. and we can hang out like ALL the time! Eventually you could always just move to New York, too, y'know?"

Emily couldn't help but laugh at Hanna's suggestion. "Well, that could work. Depending on whatever projects I may be working on." Emily's phone rang in her purse and she got off the couch to go grab it. She looked at the screen and saw it was James, her assistant. "Hey James!" She said as she picked it up. She walked over to the corner to listen as he spoke. "Hold on James, - hey Aria, do you mind if I sneak off to the back real quick. It's work stuff." Aria motioned for her to go and was left in the main room with Hanna.

"She looked totally off guard with that whole Maya living here bit didn't she?" The small brunette asked Hanna.

"Well, I guess she didn't realize that Maya lived in Philly now and not in California. They've been in that honeymoon phase so it's not like they are thinking about anything past today and tomorrow probably." Hanna replied as she ate into her salad. "Gosh, I love day drinking and lunch with my friends. Why can't we all just live in the same city!"

"This is fun. I miss you all being here. We should make a pact to meet up back here at least every other month. Y'know? Small goals first then we'll figure out how we can all live in the same city. It'll be easy, especially since we're getting Emily back cause of Maya!" Aria joked.

"Hey let's just buy a mansion and all live together!" Hanna carried on. The two girls laughed about their silly ideas.

Just then Alison pushed in the door to the studio with her back since she was carrying a small box and had some papers in hand. "Hey Aria, here are some more props bridezilla would like to set up and the actual invitation and badge so you can get in." She turned to put the box down on a small table by the door, and then took her sunglasses off. When she looked up she noticed Aria wasn't alone and acknowledged the other blonde. "Hanna! Hey!" She said excitedly. She hadn't seen Hanna at all since she got to Rosewood because of the whole Maya thing.

Hanna immediately got up to go give Alison a hug. "Hey you! How have you been?" Alison and Aria looked at Hanna because obviously, the question was probably not the best to ask. Hanna realized it a little too late, nonetheless and tried to recover. "You know? Apart from all the drama we all recently witnessed this weekend."

"Well, you know," Alison sighed, "Other than that, extremely busy. It's good to see you. I have been meaning to come down to New York and do some shopping. You know I could always use your input."

"Anytime Ali! You know you're always welcomed at my place. There's a new line coming out and I'm sure you'd love it." Hanna exclaimed. The two blondes might not be as close to each other as they are with everyone else, but they did care for one another. And they couldn't deny their connection for the love of fashion.

Alison noticed the little set up of wine and lunch snacks. "Are you two day drinking?" She asked with her infamous grin and raising her eyebrow.

Aria suddenly felt a little awkward. "Yeah, Emily and Hanna kind of surprised me this afternoon and showed up with these goodies."

Alison got really tense at the mention of Emily's name. "Is Emily here?"

"Umm, yea she's in the back," Hanna answered the worried blonde. "She got a work related call just now so she stepped away."

Alison quickly went to take her purse out of the box she set down on the table. "Well, I just wanted to bring over this stuff to you Aria. I'm going to go. I don't want to interrupt or cause any problems with you know who." As she looks up she realizes Emily is already in the room, looking at her. "Great." She mumbles under her breath.

"With me?" Emily asks with sarcasm dripping in her voice. "I doubt you could cause anymore. But then again, it is you Alison, so who knows."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The blonde snaps back. She held her eye contact with Emily. Suddenly the room was filled with tension.

Aria quickly tried to calm everyone down. "There isn't a problem with you being here Ali. Right, Em?"

Emily was still staring Alison down. "Not at all. It's your studio Aria. You can have whoever you want in here." She took a couple of steps forward, her demeanor still challenging Alison. "She's the one who didn't want to cause any more, right?"

Alison was over trying to play nice with Emily. She had no idea what the brunette had against her, and she was done wondering. "Look Emily, I have no idea why you are like you are with me, or what problem you have against me to begin with. What did I ever do to you?"

Aria tried to say something to stop the girls from getting into an argument, but Hanna put her arm up and held her back. They shared a look of agreeing to finally let these two go at it to see if they could hash things out.

"See that's so typical of you Alison. You always seem to like the victim role. You don't see how you lie and use people like they are your toys. I mean, I got over you using me, but I am not ok with you lying and trying to use Maya. She doesn't deserve to be treated like that."

"I explained to Maya why I did what I did. I never meant to hurt her or play with her feelings. I actually cared about her. And anyway, what happened between her and I, has nothing to do with you." Alison shot back.

"I love Maya and therefore it has EVERYTHING to do with me!" Emily shouted. She was fuming now.

Alison took a deep breath and tried to not shout back. "You used to love me too." The words escaped her mouth as the thought crossed her mind. Her eyes started to swell up with tears she concentrated on holding back.

Emily didn't expect that statement to come out of her mouth. 'Was Alison mocking her now? Could she actually be that cynical?' "Yeah, I did. I was super naïve and stupid, and I loved you like a fucking idiot. But you never loved me; you only love yourself. You used me because you like the attention. I was just a play thing to you."

Alison couldn't understand why Emily was saying those things to her. She remembered the last conversation they shared, where she declared her love to Emily, over and over again. "How could you say that? Right before graduation, I told you once and again that I loved you. You're the one that just left me here without saying anything. You ran off and didn't even bother to say goodbye, or answer a damn phone call or text. You broke my heart Emily." A tear started to run down Alison's cheek.

All Emily could think of was how good of an actress Alison was. She was not moved at all by her tears, it just made her angrier. She started to clap slowly, "Wow, Alison. You really should look into acting, cause your performance here is amazing." Alison and the other two girls witnessing this interaction were in awe of Emily's response. "You really expect me to believe you? You're a liar. Yes, you said you loved me before graduation. It didn't take you long after saying that to go off and kiss someone else though, did it?"

Alison's eyes opened wide. "What?"

"Yeah, Alison. I saw you. And I heard you. You kissed Noel at the graduation party, right after you told him that he would always be the last boy you'd ever want to kiss." Emily stepped over to pick up her purse and slipped her phone inside. "I guess that forever was short lived too, right? I never thought you'd come back to try girls again though, you might just be real bored."

"It isn't what you thought you saw Emily." Alison answered after a few moments of processing, tears unable to be contained anymore.

"Wasn't it? Stop lying. Just stop it's not going to bring you anything. I'm just glad I came back in time before Maya was trapped with you. Funny how timing can work, hu? If I never would've walked to Noel's backyard that night, you probably would have made a fool of me a whole lot longer." Emily took her keys out of her purse and turned to the other girls. "I'm sorry Aria, I'm going to go. Maybe we can hang out later tonight or tomorrow. Hanna, you ready?"

Hanna who was surprised by the confessions just made nodded. "Yeah, I am. Aria, I'll text you later." She gave the small brunette a hug and then went and put a hand on a baffled Alison's arm, before heading towards the door.

Alison just stood there and watched Emily quickly hug Aria. As she walked past her, Alison grabbed Emily's wrist out of instinct. "I promise you, it isn't what you thought you saw."

Emily pulled her arm back and out of Alison's grasp and rolled her eyes. "You know, after seven years, I really don't care. I've been over it, although I will admit I feel a little more liberated finally letting it out. Nothing you say will change my mind anymore. Just stay away from Maya." And with that, Emily left Aria's studio.

Once she heard the door shut, Alison started to cry uncontrollably. She couldn't believe that _that_ was the reason Emily left her. "Aria, I swear it isn't what she thinks it is. It's a stupid misunderstanding." She fell to her knees and cried into her hands.

Aria was a little puzzled. She understood now why Emily didn't want anything to do with Alison. "Oh Ali, what did you do?" She felt a little mad at Alison for Emily, but even then pushed through and tried to console her other friend.

* * *

 **If you made it here, thanks! I promise not to take too long to update.**


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